Rediscovering John Dewey: How His Psychology Transforms Our Education 9811579407, 9789811579400
This book tries to trace Dewey’s intellectual history from his early years to the end, focusing on the themes of psychol
423 113 5MB
English Pages 414 [415] Year 2020
Table of contents :
Preface
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Part I Early Years
1 Boyhood and College Years
In Search of Significant Episodes and Ideas
Family History and Background
As Industrious as a Dewey
Father
Mother
Siblings and Education at Home
CHILDHOOD
Replacement Child
Dewey Goes to School and the Farm
Parent–Child Relationship
Adolescent Crisis
Dewey’s Christian Faith
Religious Crisis
The Emerging Personality
College Years
The University of Vermont
College Curricula
Dewey’s Reading Interest
Inspiration from Huxley and Comte
Philosophical Influences
The Shadow of James Marsh
Building on Marsh
Studying Kant Under Torrey
From Christianity to Philosophy
Further Readings
References
2 The Lost Years
From Lost Years to Greatness
No Job, No Route
Teaching in Oil City
Adolescent Crisis Resolved
A “Mystic Experience”
Liberated Thrice
Getting into Philosophy
Self-study and First Article
Major Arguments in First Debut
Private Study Under Torrey
Applying for Graduate School
The Significance of the Lost Years
Further Readings
References
3 Johns Hopkins Years
The Exceedingly—Stimulating Atmosphere
Three Fine Scholars of Philosophy
George Sylvester Morris (1840–1889)
Academic Background
Dewey and Morris
Granville Stanley Hall (1844–1924)—Psychologist the First
Academic Route
Hall Meets Wundt
Hall Teaches Dewey
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
Influence on Dewey at Johns Hopkins University
Doctoral Dissertation: The Psychology of Kant
The “Missing” Background
Main Ideas
Problems and Approach
Dewey Criticizes Kant
Review and Evaluation
An Advancement
Kant’s Psychology Missing
Further Readings
References
Part II Psychology
4 Young Dewey and Zeitgeist in Psychology
Introduction: Dewey and Psychology
Background: Scientism and Experimentation
Herbert Spencer and Evolutionary Theory
Life and Works
Evolutionary Principles
Evolutionary Theory Goes to America
Alexander Bain and British Association Psychology
Bain and the British Tradition
Bain and Dewey
The German Search of the Human Mind
Three Strands of Nine Scholars
The Rational Mind of Leibniz, Kant, Herbart
The Impossibility of Scientific Psychology
Physiological Research: The Science of Mind from Muller to Helmholtz and Fritsch & Hitzig
Muller Identifying Kant’s Categories
Helmholtz Measuring Nerve Conduction
Fritsch and Hitzig Discovering Brain Localization
Measuring Sensation: Weber and Fechner
Weber’s Notion of Just Noticeable Differences
Fechner’s Psychophysics
Wilhelm Wundt Laboring German Experimental Psychology
Wundt Apprenticing Under Muller and Helmholtz
An Active Mind with Will and Volition
Experimental Psychology with Introspection
Phrenology, Pseudo-Science and Mysticism
The Flourishing “Phrenology Industry”
Mental Phenomena Unexplained
Dewey and Zeitgeist in Psychology
Further Readings
References
5 A Psychological Manifesto and Philosophic Method
Introduction: Dewey the Budding Psychologist
The New Psychology
A Psychological Manifesto
The Zeitgeist and Physiological Psychology
Psychology as the Science of Human Experience
New Psychology at the Center of Human Sciences
Review and Discussion
Paradoxes
Against Faculty Psychology and Introspection
Neglected and Misunderstood
Integrating Psychology With Philosophy
Creating a Unicorn
Storyline Reconstructed
The Psychological Standpoint
The Issue of Subject and Object
From Subjective Idealism to Universal Consciousness
Psychology as Philosophic Method
Psychology as Ultimate Science of Reality
Title Analysis
Integrating Psychology with Philosophy
Self-Consciousness, IDEE, Universe and God
Integrating Kant with Hegel
A Double Life and an Indeterminate Innovation
Illusory Psychology
Dewey’s Critic
Unjustified Generalization
Hodgson and Dewey Compared
Present-Day Criticism
Lapsing into Mysticism
Bizarre Combination
Universal vs. Collective Consciousness
Dewey Outgrowing His Own Ideas
Further Readings
References
6 Psychology, Reflex Arc Concept and the Birth of Functionalism
The Developmental Path of Dewey’s Psychology
A Sketch from 1884 to 1933
Where Lies His Focus
Psychology
Staggering Effort
British Framework, German Research
How Dewey Approaches the Subject of Psychology
Main Themes in Psychology
Dewey’s Three Aspects of Consciousness
Dewey’s Notion of Impulses
Special Sensuous Impulses, Bodily Autonomous Reaction and Reflex Action
Will Involves Attention, Planning and Coordination
Volition and Desire
Selfhood and Its Realization
Dewey’s Germinating Ideas in Psychology
Dewey’s Personal Triumph
The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology
A Founding Father in Parody
Main Ideas of The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology
Psychical Unity vs. Mechanical Conjunction
The Child-Candle Problem
The Uncertainty of Stimulus-Response with Attention and Anticipation
Functionalism as Functional Division of Labor
Review and Evaluation
A Chronology of Reflex Researches
Dewey’s Ideas in Intellectual Context
Dewey’s Impulse-Action Circuit
Founding Functionalism in America
The Right Time and the Right Place
Further Readings
References
7 Psychological Fallacy, How We Think, and Human Nature and Conduct
A Father Teasing His Offspring
Psychological Fallacy
Background and Storyline
Dewey’s Work in Psychology in 1899
Revisiting Psychology and Philosophic Method after 14 Years
The Melodrama of Psychology
The Psychological Fallacy
Psychology Gets Its Revenge
The Road Ahead for Psychology
Functionalism and Act Psychology
Evolution and Its Implication for Psychology
Dewey’s Prescription
How We Think—Thinking About Thinking for Three Decades
Developmental Psychology and Thinking Research
The Puzzle: Why Revising It After 24 Years
Dewey’s Taxonomy of Thinking
Dewey’s Notion of “Facts”
Five Phases of Reflective Thinking
Six Steps of Judgment
Review and Evaluation
Reflective Thinking as an Educational Aim
Reflective Thinking to Guide Action in Social Groups
Dewey Pioneering but Superseded
Human Nature and Conduct
Historical Context
The Puzzle of Dewey’s Notion of Habit
Clarifying Dewey’s Concept of Human Nature Components
The Deweyan Picture of Human Nature
Habit, Impulse and Intelligence
The Significance of Habit
How Does Dewey Treat Impulses
Thinking and Intelligence
Review and Evaluation
The Whole Picture of Human Nature in Summary
Puzzle Solved: From Habit to Action
The Genesis of Human Nature and Conduct: Psychology, How We Think and James’s and Freud’s Influences
Dewey’s View on the Moral Crisis and the need for Pragmatism
Further Readings
References
Part III Education
8 Chicago Years, My Pedagogic Creed and Resignation
Introduction—The Years of Irony
The Michigan Link
Dewey “in Love” with Education
Applying Psychology to Education
Groundwork on Ethics
Chicago Years in Brief
The Hellish Beginning
The European Trip
John and Morris
My Pedagogic Creed
A Principled John and the Moment of Truth
Freedom and Democracy
The Growth of Dewey’s My Pedagogic Creed (1897)
Dewey’s Life World
Social World: Proletarian Revolution or Social Reform?
Organizational World—The “Michigan Gang”
The Personal World—Family, Friends and Personal Ambition
The Unhappy Ending
The Resignation Puzzle
A Reconstruction—A Chronology of Major Events Leading to Dewey’s Resignation
Plausible Reasons
Dewey Overworked
“Mistreatment of Mrs. Dewey”
Review at a Distance
Complex Motives Converged
Dewey’s Leadership
Ethical Principles
Further Readings
References
9 Educational Writings in Chicago Years
Introduction
Interest in Relation to Training of the Will
Change of Terms Over Time
The Controversy Between Interest and Effort
Dewey’s Psychology of Interest
The Core Concept: Self-Expression
Self-Expression Directs Interest: A Diagrammatic Presentation
The Process: From Interest to Effort (Will)
Review and Evaluation
Interest-Arousal Theory
Description vs. Prescription
Unverifiability
Ethical Principles Underlying Education
The Centrality of Ethics in Education
Puzzles of Ethical Principles Underlying Education
Dewey’s Line of Thought
Moral Habits at School and Character Formation
Reconstruction and Evaluation
Democracy
Love
Social Justice
The Psychological Aspect of the School Curriculum
Background
Harris’s Challenge
Dewey’s Response: Education as Reconstruction of Experience
Building on Criticisms
Summary and Review
My Pedagogic Creed
A Passionate Vision and Personal Declaration
The Five Articles and Their Origins
The Five Articles in Summary
Article 1: What Education Is
Article 2: What the School Is
Article 3: The Subject matter of Education
Article 4: The Nature of Method
Article 5: The School and Social Progress
Review and Evaluation: Dewey’s Ideals and Creed
The School and Society
Background
Main Ideas
Social, Industrial and Intellectual Revolution
Dewey’s Vision of Education Reform
Impulse and The Fourfold Interests of a Child
The Psychology of Elementary Education: Three Hypotheses and Two Stages
Review and Evaluation
Dewey’s Oral History
A Revolutionary and Optimistic Vision
The Child and the Curriculum
Background
Dewey Formulates His System of Educational Thought
A Short but Original Work
Signature Terms and Three Premises
‘Psychologizing’ the Curriculum
A Dynamic View of Continuous Reconstruction
Child-Centered Education?
Conclusion
Further Readings
References
10 Educational Writings in Columbia Years
Introduction
Early Columbia Years in Brief (1905–1918)
Another Move, Another Blow
Dewey’s Appointment with Columbia
The Tragedy
The Mourning Period and Compensation
Dewey’s Family Drama
Retreating to Philosophy
Turning Inward
“Comfort Zone”
Social Activism and Public Intellectual
Social Activism
Public Intellectual
Mid-life “Crisis” and Resolution
Physical Fatigue and Alexander Technique
Emotional Engagement with Anzia Yezierska and Resolution
Major Educational Writings: An Overview
Schools of Tomorrow
Background and Writing Style
John Dewey on Major Education Theorists
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827)
Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel (1782–1852)
Maria Montessori (1870–1952)
Evelyn Dewey on Major Educational Innovations
Democracy and Education
Life After Death
Publishing Background: Is Democracy and Education a Textbook?
Scope and Structure
What Is New in Democracy and Education
Summary of Dewey’s New Ideas in Democracy and Education
Philosophy as General Theory of Education
Going Beyond Rousseau’s Idealization
Moving from Natural Unfoldment to Interactive Unfoldment
The Notion of Plasticity
Democracy as a Way of Life
Review and Evaluation
Dewey’s Startling Claim: Philosophy as Theory of Education
Dewey’s Notion of Democracy
Dewey’s Moral Education and Ideal School: An Impossible Dream?
Further Readings
References
Part IV Involvement in Education and Impact
11 Dewey in China
Introduction
Once-in-a-lifetime Experience
The Historical Inevitability Thesis
1918: Dewey’s Year of Complicated Political Involvement
End of First World War
The Independence of Poland
Family Issues and Family Trip
Family Finance
Family Trouble
Family Trip
A Contingent Trip Extended and Extended
Invitation from China
From a Few Months to a Whole Year
A Chronology of Dewey’s China Trip (1919)
Meeting Dr. Sun yat-sen
60th Birthday Celebration in Family Trip
High-spirited
Extending for the Second Year
More Talks
To the South
Promoting American Diplomacy
Dewey Promoting American Democracy and Values
Dewey as an Informant
Role of US Government
The Red Scare Thesis
Dewey’s Chinese Disciples
The Young Chinese Intelligentsia
Promoters and Translators
Hu shi (1891–1962)
Jiang meng-lin (1886–1964)
Guo, Tao and the Columbia Alumni
Zhang bo-ling (1876–1951)
Different Themes
Interpreter or Misinterpreted?
Hu Interpreting Dewey
Dewey, Hu and Mao
Popularization of Dewey’s Ideas
The Most Popular American in China
Popularization of Ideas
Education
Philosophic Method
Political Philosophy
Reasons Underlying Popularization
Inevitability Thesis
The Purge and Resurrection of Dewey’s Ideas
Ideology Dictates Purge
Resurrection Since 1980
Further Readings
References
12 John Dewey and Progressive Education
Introduction
Dewey Reads Science Fiction
Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward: 2000–1887
The American Reformers’ Quest
Progressivism in America (1860–1920)
From Tradition to Modernity (1860–1879)
The Progressive Era (1879–1920)
The Idea of Progress
Progressive Politics and Agenda
The Rise of the New Middle Class
The Beginning of Scientific Management
The Progressive Nation
From New to Progressive Education
Francis Parker—The Father of Progressive Education
Charles Eliot—The New Education
Dewey’s Changing Usage
The Diversity in Progressive Education
The Progressive Education Association
The Diversity of Progressive Education
Marietta Johnson’s Fairhope School
William Wirt’s Gary Plan
Helen Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan
Caroline Pratt and Lucy Mitchell’s Play School
The Columbia Connection
William Kilpatrick and Project Method
Harold Rugg on Child-Centered Schools and Progressive Curriculum
George Counts’s Social Reconstructionism
Dewey’s Role in Progressive Education
No Consensus in Research
Dewey and Thorndike Integrated
The Emerging View
Further Readings
References
13 Late Writings on Education
Dewey’s Network of Enterprise (1921–1940)
A Network of Four Domains
A Prolific Writer in Philosophy and Politics
Widower and Emeritus Harvesting on Education
Dewey’s Late Writings on Education (1928–1940)
Period One (1928–1934): Support and Critique of Progressive Education
Period Two (1934–1937): Moving Toward Social Constructionism
Period Three (1938–1940): Experience and Democracy
Synopsis and Review of Late Writings
Progressive Education and the Science of Education (1928)
How Much Freedom in New Schools? (1930)
Why Have Progressive Schools? (1933)
The Need for a Philosophy of Education (1934)
Education for a Changing Social Order (1934)
Can Education Share in Social Reconstruction? (1934)
Education and Social Change (1937)
Experience and Education (1938)
Background
Coverage and Scope
Criteria of Experience
New Terms and Ideas
Dewey Repeating Himself
Democracy and Education in the World Today (1938)
Summary and Conclusion: Dewey’s Enduring Impact
Intellectual Giant
Pioneering Spirit and Hard Work
A Career-Driven Knowledge Enterprise
Integrating and Enriching Human Knowledge
Dewey’s Impact on Education and Philosophy
Philosophy of Education
Postmodernism
Education Practice
My Final Words to My Dear Readers
Further Readings of Chapter 9, 10, and this chapter
References
References
Index
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