Talk:A&HH6577/Assignment3

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Contents 1 Discussion reading for the week 2 Supplemental Resources 2.1 Queries 3 Talk

Discussion reading for the week

• Addams, Jane. “A Function of the Social Settlement.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 13 (May 1899): 33-55. Online.

Supplemental Resources

• Patrick Geddes, referred to on page 338, on the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and on Wikipedia
• Israel Zangwill - referred to on page 327
• Daniel T.T. Rodgers: Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age
• James T. Kloppenberg: Uncertain Victory: Social Democracy and Progressivism in European and American Thought, 1870-1920

Queries

Talk

With Jane Addams article on the function of social settlement, we see the genisis of what would later be known as the golden age of progressivism. By this point, Addams and her associates had already established Hull House in Chicago and were finding that they were exceedingly successful in both teaching the working class and instrucing them in the "moral stance" that was expected of an American during this period. But one can see at various points in Addams' address to the American Academy of Political Science that she is beginning to think on a broader scale. This marks a key crossroads for those studying the history of Progressivism, as activists starting looking beyond their local efforts towards a broader, national sense of progressivism that would lead to so many changes in the first decade of the 20th Century. jab2210 (Jeff Bremick)

Jeff, your comment on the proliferation of the progressive sentiment beyond its initial orbit is interesting. I’m curious to know which points in Addams’ article you have in mind (perhaps these will come out in class – but I think it will be useful to record them here, not only for our class but for subsequent classes who use the site as well).

I think it can be said that the jury is still out (at least among historians of the progressive era/education) on whether the proliferation you note was on the whole a positive or a negative development (which is often a false dichotomy, and only moreso in the case of progressivism). On the one hand, there are criticisms that the settlements were culturally paternalistic, as revealed by statements such as “A settlement looks about among its neighbors and finds a complete absence of art” (331) or “Feeling…very strongly as only a dull peasant mind can feel…” (335). On the other hand, there are statements which reveal a comprehensive and sympathetic understanding of the plight of the uprooted. The idea that the settlement worker means “to make experience continuous beyond the individual” (325) is at the very least a recognition of the social origins of urban problems, but more importantly a call for a social response.

There are a few terms I think need addressing if we’re to understand fully Addams’ intentions. There is much that goes unsaid about what art and life mean to Addams, and the fact that they are juxtaposed in several passages is telling. Although Dewey had yet to write on these topics, the idea that art and life should be so distinct is not one I think he would be comfortable with. Given that Addams takes some cues from Dewey, what should be made of that apparent separation?

Knowledge is another term that Addams relies upon heavily, and I’m curious to know what theory of knowledge she had in mind, or if some theory was not explicit, what can be teased out from her usage? Here is a paragraph I think includes these kinds of usages of these three terms:

This then, will be my definition of the settlement: that it is an attempt to express the meaning of life in terms of life itself, in forms of activity. There is no doubt that the deed often reveals when the idea does not, just as art makes us understand and feel what might be incomprehensible and inexpressible in the form of argument. And as the artist test the success of his art when the recipient feels that he knew the thing before, but had not been able to express it, so the settlement, when it attempts to reveal and apply knowledge, deems its results practicable, when it has made knowledge available which before was abstract, when through use, it has made common that knowledge which was partial before because it could only be apprehendedby the intellect (326).

What I think it will be interesting to discuss is the relation between the intent of the early movers & shakers such as Addams and the subsequent adoption of a much broader and general Progressive ethos. To what extent did Addams feel that the wide currency Progressive sentiments enjoyed in fact reflect her and her colleagues thinking and feelings on the matter? To put it another way, should the following excerpt (in particular what I’ve italicized) be read as applying, ironically, to progressivism itself: “In this business of application, however, a settlement finds itself tending not only to make common those good things which before were partial and remote, but it finds itself challenging and testing by standards of moral democracy those things which it before regarded as good, if they could but be universal, and it sometimes finds that the so-called good things will not endure this test of being universalized” (330). Eric Strome 12:53, 20 September 2007 (EDT)

A few follow up comments to our discussions on Jane Addams and Henry Adams . . .

I thought Justin’s comment about Addams’ footnote was particularly apt, given our discussion. “All of us who have been through the old-fashioned school and college can remember the tedium and confusion of always getting ready for something, of preparing for the life which was to follow school” (334). Addams’ devotes an entire chapter to this conundrum in her autobiography, Twenty Years at Hull-House, entitled, “The Snare of Preparation.” I think it is pertinent to be asking this question of ourselves as we study these pieces of scholarship and ponder the history of American educational thought. Why are we learning what we are learning? What is motivating us to learn? What are we preparing to do?

To Robbie’s question, What is Jane Addams’ theory of knowledge? Although I recognize this question was posed to students as an invitation to personally engage in our reading, I can’t help but feel incredibly inadequate in attempting to provide an answer – in giving words to Jane Addams’ philosophy about knowledge. The question is not a simple one.

Throughout our discussion, I think each of us touched on Addams’ ideas on knowledge, from Matt’s comments about the seemingly condescending approach Addams’ language suggested, to Dan’s comments that Addams’ view of knowledge centered on the active living of life. While in class I offered an alternative interpretation to Matt’s comments, I think his observations really capture Addams’ inculcated point of view and well illustrate an aspect of our society that Addams’ personally struggled mightily with – how to address the great gulf between peoples of varying educational experiences, daily living experiences, and knowledge. How is knowledge obtained? How do we value knowledge? And What do we do with our knowledge?

I see Addams’ ideas of knowledge as, perhaps, – 1) valuing past scholarship of brilliant minds and peculiar souls as captured in books, 2) acting on that knowledge in a practical application in life – living it so as to more completely understand a concept, that once having lived it, becomes a deeper more faceted understanding; and 3) to own the knowledge and develop it beyond the definition given by the scholars and by the practical application – owning it in new realms of thought, making new connections.

Addams’ struggle to make her mark in a world of her fellow humans is not too far from the struggle that Henry Adam’s faced in his desire to make his mark. Perhaps one difference might be in attitude. It seems to me that Addams was rather consistently looking beyond her own abilities to connect with others, not just intellectually, but emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Adams seemed tortured by his frustrated desire to apply his brilliance in such a way as to break through the limited way we understand our world. Almost as if we are a society who has based our knowledge on the shadows we see outside of the cave, rather than reaching out beyond the cave to really see and understand our world. I would be interested in others’ perspectives as to how we compare Henry Adams and Jane Addams and their theories of knowledge and their perceptions of their success. --Sharon Pierson 19:52, 23 September 2007 (EDT)