Why Are We Fighting? A view of the "great war" from across the ocean

Studies in East European Thought. 2014. Vol. 66. No. 1-2. P. 51–67.

Dmitriev T.

The article examines the dispute concerning the meaning of World War I among leading american intellectuals in the period 1915-1918. Taking central stage here are the views of one of the founding fathers of American pragmatism, John Dewey (1859-1952), on the causes of the "Great War", its higher meaning and goals which led to America's entry into the War and also its influence on the social reconstruction of American Society and the post-War world order. The final section of the article is devoted to a critique of Dewey's position towards American participation in the War by another famous American intellectual, Randolph Bourne (1886-1918), who laid the foundations for a tradition of social criticism in the U. S. in the twentieth century.

Keywords: США, первая мировая война, USA, First World War, democratic ideology, John Dewey, Randolph Bourne, демократическая идеология, Джон Дьюи, Рэндальф Борн

Publication based on the results of: State policy and ideology in the field of culture (2013)