The rhetoric of democracy and political liberalism in the writings of John Dewey

The aim of this article is to analyze the meaning of John Dewey's ideal of democracy as a way of life, linked to his reformist view of liberalism. This is one of the most interesting cases to watch the distance that separates the ideal from the experience of democracy. Part of his formulations do not easily fit in the history of real polities, not even the American democracy of his time. Yet they are of the highest intellectual and practical interest, among other reasons because of their enduring scholarly influence and the practical inspiration they still provide. The paper discusses firstly the role played by democratic ideals in informing real practices and explores secondly the significance of political expectations generated by those ideals. In doing so, it distinguishes the metaphoric and pedagogic use of democracy as claimed by John Dewey from democracy as a system of government. That way the article highlights the educative value of democratic practices carried out outside the political process, while drawing attention to the institutional conditions for democracy to properly work.