John Dewey
John Dewey
Dewey’s philosophy is wide-ranging and original. During his lifetime, he published regularly and, after an initial flirtation with Hegelianism, developed his own distinctive philosophical position. Dewey, known as one of the most important of the ‘classical pragmatists’, believed that philosophy should be concerned with practical matters, and, to this end, many of his works were on the philosophy of education, ethics, and social political philosophy (Collinson and Plant 177).
John Dewey was born in 1859 and died in 1952. After a period as a schoolteacher, he became a graduate student in philosophy at Johns Hopkins University where the teaching of Professor George Sylvester Morris was influential in forming his philosophy. Morris lectured and provided seminar work in his belief of “demonstrated” truth of the substance of German Idealism, and of belief in its competency to give direction to a live for aspiring thought, emotion, and action. In his autobiographical essay, “From Absolutism to Experimentalism”, Dewey writes of Morris:
“I have never known a more single-hearted and whole-souled man — a man of a single piece all the way through; while I long since deviated from his philosophic faith I should be happy to believe that the influence of the spirit of his teaching has been an enduring influence” (Rorty 388).
Early in Dewey’s philosophy, he followed the beliefs of the German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831). The cornerstone of Hegel’s system, or world view, is the notion of freedom, conceived not as simple license to fulfil preferences but as the rare condition of living self-consciously and in a fully rationally organized community or state. (Blackburn) Dewey’s interest in Hegelianism was prompted by his desire to incorporate all dualisms1 into the one unity of the Absolute (Collinson and Plant 177). Dewey states that his acquaintance with Hegel left him with a permanent deposit in his thinking. Dewey believed that there was
Dewey’s philosophy is wide-ranging and original. During his lifetime, he published regularly and, after an initial flirtation with Hegelianism, developed his own distinctive philosophical position. Dewey, known as one of the most important of the ‘classical pragmatists’, believed that philosophy should be concerned with practical matters, and, to this end, many of his works were on the philosophy of education, ethics, and social political philosophy (Collinson and Plant 177).
John Dewey was born in 1859 and died in 1952. After a period as a schoolteacher, he became a graduate student in philosophy at Johns Hopkins University where the teaching of Professor George Sylvester Morris was influential in forming his philosophy. Morris lectured and provided seminar work in his belief of “demonstrated” truth of the substance of German Idealism, and of belief in its competency to give direction to a live for aspiring thought, emotion, and action. In his autobiographical essay, “From Absolutism to Experimentalism”, Dewey writes of Morris:
“I have never known a more single-hearted and whole-souled man — a man of a single piece all the way through; while I long since deviated from his philosophic faith I should be happy to believe that the influence of the spirit of his teaching has been an enduring influence” (Rorty 388).
Early in Dewey’s philosophy, he followed the beliefs of the German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831). The cornerstone of Hegel’s system, or world view, is the notion of freedom, conceived not as simple license to fulfil preferences but as the rare condition of living self-consciously and in a fully rationally organized community or state. (Blackburn) Dewey’s interest in Hegelianism was prompted by his desire to incorporate all dualisms1 into the one unity of the Absolute (Collinson and Plant 177). Dewey states that his acquaintance with Hegel left him with a permanent deposit in his thinking. Dewey believed that there was
Cited: Anderson, Elizabeth. The Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Dewey 's Moral Philosophy. Edward N Zalta, 2014. eBook. Arrington, Robert L and John Beversluis. A Companion to the Philosophers. Oxford, 1999. eBook. Blackburn, Simon. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Oxford, 2014. eBook. Collinson, Diane and Kathryn Plant. Fifty Major Philosophers. New York: Routledge, 2006. eBook. Honderich, Ted. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (2 rev. ed). Oxford, 2005. eBook. Rorty, Amelie Okensberg. The Many Faces of Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. eBook.