Philosophy in the Contemporary World

Volume 4, Issue 3, Fall 1997

Community of Choice and Community of Origin
Insights into Dewey’s Theory of Communication

This essay unearths the meaning of community in John Dewey’s Experience and Nature, using Marilyn Friedman’s terms “community of choice” and “community of origin.” The authority of communication as determinative of Dewey’s community comes out. In fact, communication seems to be the philosophical point of Dewey’s descriptions in that book which reveals his anticipation of a community wherever communication obtains. Dewey is shown, in conclusion, to call us beyond communities of choice or origin to a community of authority which holds both peculiar promise for, and demands of, individuals.