The notion of continous flux of experience: the contribution of Dewey to cognitive science

Abstract

This work aims to investigate the notion of continuous flux of experience proposed by John Dewey and its possible contribution to Philosophy of mind and to Cognitive Science. Dewey elaborates a theory which presents a conception of experience that involves all the dimensions of living actions, not only giving privilege to the role that experience plays in scientific knowledge. According to Dewey, the traditional theories of knowledge do not consider experience adequately, for those theories only point out the relevance of experience in the production of theories, dissociating experience from its environments. Thus, daily events are not taken into consideration in the production of knowledge and so philosophy becomes an abstract entity free floating over and above life and even beyond it. On the basis of the notion of continuous flux of experience, Dewey refutes the rationalist theories in adopting an evolutionary perspective that envisages to point out the continuity that links actions with its environments. We shall show that Dewey´s notion can contribute to the investigation of the cognitive processes actually in course of study in the Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science.