“The Religious”: Dewey’s Post-Feuerbachian “Sublation” of Religion (and Some Critical Roycean Considerations)

Abstract

Dewey’s concept of “the religious” can contribute to the re-opening of a philosophical exploration of the public and private role of religion after the criticism of religion. His transformation of religion is open to criticism, however. Some questions concerning the post-Feuerbachian character of Dewey’s category “the religious” are explored in this text with reference to Hilary Putnam’s recent remarks on Dewey’s concept of “projection”. Other questions arise in view of Richard Rorty´s Dewey inspired critique of “clericalism”. The final part of this article reflects on the mature work of Josiah Royce, who – in spite of sharing with Dewey a socio-communal approach toward religion – tried to philosophically re-read religious motivations (within the framework of his late “peirceanized” pragmatism) in a manner substancially different from Dewey’s.