Read complete books and articles on: John Dewey

Dewey, John - 1859–1952, American philosopher and educator, b. Burlington, Vt., grad. Univ. of Vermont, 1879, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins, 1884. He taught at the universities of Minnesota (1888–89), Michigan (1884–88, 1889–94), and Chicago (1894–1904) and at Columbia from 1904 until his retirement in 1930. His foreign consultancies included two stints at the Univ. of

Dewey's original philosophy, called instrumentalism, bears a relationship to the utilitarian and pragmatic schools of thought. Instrumentalism holds that the various modes and forms of human activity are instruments developed by human beings to solve multiple individual and social problems. Since the problems are constantly changing, the instruments for dealing with them must also change. Truth, evolutionary in nature, partakes of no transcendental or eternal reality and is based on experience that can be tested and shared by all who investigate. Dewey conceived of democracy as a primary ethical value, and he did much to formulate working principles for a democratic and industrial society.

In education his influence has been a leading factor in the abandonment of authoritarian methods and in the growing emphasis upon learning through experimentation and practice. In revolt against abstract learning, Dewey considered education as a tool that would enable the citizen to integrate culture and vocation effectively and usefully. Dewey actively participated in movements to forward social welfare and woman's suffrage, protect academic freedom, and effect political reform.

Among his writings, which are concerned with almost all philosophical fields except metaphysics, are Psychology (1887), The School and Society (1899; rev. ed. 1915), Ethics (with James H. Tufts, 1908), Democracy and Education (1916), Reconstruction in Philosophy (1920), Human Nature and Conduct (1922), Experience and Nature (1925), The Public and Its Problems (1927), The Quest for Certainty (1929), Philosophy and Civilization (1932), A Common Faith (1934), Art as Experience (1934), Liberalism and Social Action (1935), Experience and Education (1938), Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (1938), Freedom and Culture (1939), and Problems of Men (1946).

See J. A. Boydston and K. Poulos, ed., Checklist of Writings about John Dewey, 1887–1977 (1978) and B. Levine, Works about John Dewey, 1886–1995 (1996); G. Dykhuizen, The Life and Mind of John Dewey (1973); J. J. McDermott, ed., Philosophy of John Dewey (2 vol., 1981); biographies by S. C. Rockefeller (1991), R. B. Westbrook (1991), A. Ryan (1995), and J. Martin (2002); studies by G. R. Geiger (1958, repr. 1974), A. Wirth (1966, repr. 1979), F. F. Cruz (1988), L. A. Hickman (1990), H. Cuffaro (1994), and A. Ryan (1996).

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: John Dewey

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1.

Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education » Read Now
by John Dewey. 436 pgs.

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2.

Moral Principles in Education » Read Now
by John Dewey. 66 pgs.

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3.

The School and Society » Read Now
by John Dewey. 146 pgs.

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4.

How We Think » Read Now
by John Dewey. 224 pgs.

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5.

Reconstruction in Philosophy » Read Now
by John Dewey. 226 pgs.

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6.

Freedom and Culture » Read Now
by John Dewey. 180 pgs.

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7.

Philosophy & Education in Their Historic Relations » Read Now
by John Dewey, J. J. Chambliss, Elsie Ripley Clapp. 152 pgs.

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8.

The Life and Mind of John Dewey » Read Now
by George Dykhuizen, Jo Ann Boydston. 429 pgs.

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9.

Foundations of John Dewey's Educational Theory » Read Now
by Melvin C. Baker. 216 pgs.

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10.

Understanding John Dewey: Nature and Cooperative Intelligence » Read Now
by James Campbell. 316 pgs.

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11.

John Dewey: Rethinking Our Time » Read Now
by Raymond D. Boisvert. 196 pgs.

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12.

The Philosophy of John Dewey » Read Now
by Paul Arthur Schilpp. 710 pgs.

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13.

Public Schools and Moral Education: The Influence of Horace Mann, William Torrey Harris, and John Dewey » Read Now
by Neil Gerard McCluskey. 318 pgs.

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14.

John Dewey's Liberalism: Individual, Community, and Self-Development » Read Now
by Daniel M. Savage. 220 pgs.

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John Dewey's classical pragmatism, Daniel M. Savage asserts, can be used to provide a self-development-based justification of liberal democracy that shows the current debate between liberal individualism and republican communitarianism to be based largely on a set of pseudoproblems.
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John Dewey's classical pragmatism, Daniel M. Savage asserts, can be used to provide a self-development-based justification of liberal democracy that shows the current debate between liberal individualism and republican communitarianism to be based largely on a set of pseudoproblems.
From Dewey's classical pragmatism, Savage derives a conception of individual autonomy that, while meeting all of the criteria for a conception of autonomy, does not, as the dominant Kantian variant does, require transcendence from any particular language community. The Deweyan conception of autonomy that Savage derives from classical pragmatism, in fact, requires that the individual be situated within a context of cultural beliefs. Savage argues that this particular conception of autonomy is necessary if one wants to conceive of life, as communitarians do, as a quest for the good life within a social context.
Thus, Savage constructs a conception of autonomy that consists of a set of intellectual virtues, each of which can be,understood, like Aristotle's moral virtues, as a mean between two extremes (or vices). The virtue of critical reflection is the mean between the vices of dogmatism on the one hand and philosophical skepticism on the other. The virtue of creative individuality is the mean between the opposing vices of conformity and eccentricity. Finally, the virtue of sociability is the mean between the extremes of docility and rebelliousness. The three virtues together provide a natural method of adapting to change. Dewey's method of adapting to change requires, in both the individual and in the community, the synthesis of integrating and differentiating forces.
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15.

John Dewey: His Contribution to the American Tradition » Read Now
by Irwin Edman. 326 pgs.

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16.

The Politics of John Dewey » Read Now
by Gary Bullert. 219 pgs.

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Bullert explores the development of Dewey's political philosophy by investigating how his social actions illustrate the emerging principles and values he sought to instill.