An epistemology of the hand: Putting pragmatism to work

Abstract

Western philosophy has been greatly influenced by visual metaphors. Knowing something has commonly, yet implicitly, been conceptualized as seeing something clearly, learning has been framed as being visually exposed to something, and the mind has been understood as a mirror of nature. A whole epistemology of the eye has been at work, which has had significant practical implications, not least in educational contexts. One way to characterize John Dewey's pragmatism is to see it as an attempt to replace the epistemology of the eye with an epistemology of the hand. This chapter develops the epistemology of the hand on three levels: a level of embodiment and metaphors, of craftsmanship and social practices, and of schooling and education.