In this 2006 John Dewey Society Invited Address, I place Dewey in a larger philosophical and historical context. My hope is that by doing so we can learn more about the future prospects for the role of philosophy of education. I see Dewey as one of those rare canonical philosophers whose reputation as a philosopher is intricately tied to their writings on education and I want to explore why thi...

The general theme of change in philosophy over time is due to traditional customs and beliefs failing to regulate society. This theme drove both John Dewey's Progressive Movement and the creation of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). The remarkable similarity in thought between Dewey's writings and the...

What is John Dewey’s Democracy and Education? In a literal sense, it is a study of education and its relation to the individual and society. Moreover, Dewey tells us, it is a philosophical rather than historical, sociological, or political inquiry. His original title for the work was An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. That was the heading he had in view when he signed a contract to...

" Every philosophy is under the illusion that it has no illusions because it has discovered the illusions of its predecessors. " —Reinhold Niebuhr (1938) " The only ground for anticipating failure in taking this path resides to my mind in the danger that experience and the experimental method will not be adequately conceived. " —John Dewey (1938)