Rafael C.

De Los Reyes Practical Research 1

11 – STEM C

John Dewey (1859 – 1952 CE) was a Pragmatist philosopher, functionalist psychologist like James, and
major influence on American education. He is also well known for his aesthetic philosophy, his philosophy
of art and beauty, from his popular book Art as Experience (1934). He taught both elementary and high
school before deciding he was better suited for teaching at the college level. Dewey attended graduate
school at Johns Hopkins where he studied the novel philosophy of Pragmatism under Peirce and obtained
his doctorate, his thesis titled The Psychology of Kant. He then taught at the University of Chicago, where
he focused on Pragmatism and the development of education. He later left to teach at Columbia, a
university known for its progressivism, and he was at one time the president of both the American
Philosophical Association and the American Psychological Association.

In his book Democracy and Education, Dewey argues that an intelligent and good society provides
education and supports a diversity and plurality of ideas and opinions. A prosperous democracy
requires that public opinion be informed and authorities held accountable. Dewey practically (and
pragmatically) invented everything that progressive educators obsess about. Dewey was a democratic
socialist, angering some of his Marxist colleagues in his disagreements with the philosophy of Marx and
the practices of Stalin. He even formed the Dewey Commission and went to Mexico in 1937 to clear
Trotsky of Stalin’s charges of treason, finding Trotsky innocent. Dewey lectured and traveled in China,
excited about the changes taking place in the country, though he argued that the change should come
through gradual reform driven by progressive education, not violent revolution.

https://ericgerlach.com/american-philosophy-dewey/