Difference between revisions of "John Dewey"
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"The way in which Rockefeller (Middlebury College) has presented the generally accepted two periods of Dewey's development (childhood through the Michigan years and from Chicago on) enables him to show the continuous role of religion in Dewey's life and thought as his thought evolved. What emerges is not only a broadened perspective on Dewey's naturalism, but the best intellectual biography of Dewey that we have. . . . The book fills a need that George Dykhuizen's The Life and Mind of John Dewey {BRD 1973} did not, despite all that work's value as a factual resource."</small> | "The way in which Rockefeller (Middlebury College) has presented the generally accepted two periods of Dewey's development (childhood through the Michigan years and from Chicago on) enables him to show the continuous role of religion in Dewey's life and thought as his thought evolved. What emerges is not only a broadened perspective on Dewey's naturalism, but the best intellectual biography of Dewey that we have. . . . The book fills a need that George Dykhuizen's The Life and Mind of John Dewey {BRD 1973} did not, despite all that work's value as a factual resource."</small> | ||
*Library Journal v. 116 (March 1 1991) p. 91 | *Library Journal v. 116 (March 1 1991) p. 91 | ||
| − | <small>"Rockefeller shows how Dewey's evolving thought was closely related to the events and experiences in his life, and he interweaves both throughout the narrative, rather than considering them separately--a very effective strategy. . . . Aside from its value as a major study of Dewey's life and thought, this work has great value in showing how contemporary sensibilities which are persuaded by the natural-scientific worldview can, at the same time, maintain a religious orientation."</small> </ref> | + | <small>"Rockefeller shows how Dewey's evolving thought was closely related to the events and experiences in his life, and he interweaves both throughout the narrative, rather than considering them separately--a very effective strategy. . . . Aside from its value as a major study of Dewey's life and thought, this work has great value in showing how contemporary sensibilities which are persuaded by the natural-scientific worldview can, at the same time, maintain a religious orientation."</small> </ref> Dewey viewed conservative Christianity ([[fundamentalism]] and mainline [[Catholicism]]) as enemies and rivals of his own philosophy and its emphasis on "intelligence" as well as "religious" feelings. This can be seen in part in a 1924 essay written for the ''New Republic'': |
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Revision as of 03:21, December 22, 2008
John Dewey (1859-1952) was a philosopher of education who advocated instrumentalism and is generally considered the father of Progressivism in education. He sought the reconstruction of society through education in which children learned for themselves from the environment rather than from teachers.
Dewey and religion
Dewey mostly avoided lectures on religion. Important exceptions include his 1892 address "Christianity and Democracy" given to the University of Michigan Students' Christian Association and his 1933 Terry Lectures at Yale University—the basis of his 1934 book A Common Faith. In A Common Faith Dewey attempted to somehow separate the experience of the "religious" from the supernatural aspects of "God" and "religion".[1] According to the scholar Steven C. Rockefeller, Dewey was an American Feuerbach. Both Dewey and Feuerbach believed that they possessed a deep philosophical understanding of Christianity. Their shared belief rejected the Incarnation and all other biblical miracles.[2] Dewey viewed conservative Christianity (fundamentalism and mainline Catholicism) as enemies and rivals of his own philosophy and its emphasis on "intelligence" as well as "religious" feelings. This can be seen in part in a 1924 essay written for the New Republic:
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- ↑ Reinhold Niebuhr and John Dewey: An American Odyssey, Daniel F. Rice, 1993, State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-1345-4, pages 43-58 (these pages are Chapter 5 titled "A Common Faih")
- ↑ John Dewey: Religious Faith and Democratic Humanism, Steven C. Rockefeller, Columbia University Press, 1991, ISBN 0231073488, ISBN 9780231073486, 683 pages
- Choice v. 29 (March 1992) p. 1094 Title: John Dewey
- Library Journal v. 116 (March 1 1991) p. 91
Quotes
- "education is all one with growing; it has no end beyond itself,"
- "education consists primarily of transmission through communication,"
- "education is a constant reorganizing or reconstructing of experience."