John DeweyCritiques

An excellent book. The only thing lacking is a societal/political context in which thinking, learning and teaching take place, and how that context affects all of the above. But still, many ideas that are incredibly relevant after all of these years.

This is a fabulous nutshell of a book that captures the essential of John Dewey's pragmatist take on education. Even though it was written in the 1930s, it offers so much for those of us involved in public education today. Arne Duncan and Barak Obama should read this right away!

100 DEW 2

100 DEW 1

LOS DIVERSOS CONCEPTOS SOBRE LA FILOSOFIA
ALGUNOS DE LOS FACTORES HISTORICOS EN LA RECONSTRUCCION FILOSOFICA
EL FACTOR CIENTIFICO EN LA RECONSTRUCCION DE LA FILOSOFIA
LOS NUEVOS CONCEPTOS DE LA EXPERIENCIA Y DE LA RAZON
CAMBIOS EN LOS CONCEPTOS DE LO IDEAL Y DE LO REAL
EL SIGNIFICADO QUE TIENE LA RECONSTRUCCION LOGICA
LA RECONSTRUCCION EN LOS CONCEPTOS DE LA MORAL
LA RECONSTRUCCION, EN SUS EFECTOS SOBRE LA FILOSOFIA

One of America's greatest philosophers outlines a faith which is not confined to sect, class, or race.

what a trainwreck

Dewey, John. Art as Experience. 1934. Putnam’s, 1958.
John Dewey’s pragmatic approach to art provides a middle ground between the formalism of New Criticism and the more subjective aesthetics that replaced it. For Dewey, the aesthetic experience produced by an expressive, time-bound object was the defining quality of art. Formal elements matter, as does the subjectivity of the audience, but they are not all that matters. Art as Experience is after almost 90 years still a readable and important work. For a longer discussion see the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dewey-aesthetics/#ArtExpe). 5 stars.

John Dewey ranks as one of the three or four important developers of American Pragmatism.

'Reconstruction of Philosophy' explains his thinking, as of 1920, in fairly simple terms, and in about 130 pages.
The book uses terms from academic language of the early 20th century, ones that may not be so familiar now.
It's written in the formal way people wrote in that time.

Nevertheless, Dewey has a clarity only found in writing by a few philosophers from any time period.

SUMARIO

Prefacio a la nueva edición 9
Prefacio a la primera edición 11
Introducción a la edición española 13

PRIMERA PARTE

EL PROBLEMA DE LA FORMACIÓN DEL PENSAMIENTO

1. ¿Qué es pensar? 19
2. Por qué el pensamiento reflexivo tiene que constituir un
objetivo de la educación 33
3. Recursos innatos en la formación del pensamiento 51
4. Las condiciones escolares y la formación del pensamiento 69

SEGUNDA PARTE
CONSIDERACIONES LÓGICAS

5. Proceso y producto de la actividad reflexiva:
proceso psicológico y forma lógica 85
6. Ejemplos de inferencia y de comprobación 103
7. Análisis del pensamiento reflexivo 113
8. El lugar del juicio en la actividad reflexiva 129
9. Comprensión: ideas y significados 141
10. Comprensión: concepto y definición 157
11. Método sistemático: control de los datos yevidencia 171
12. Método sistemático: control de razonamiento y conceptos 183
13. Pensamiento empírico y científico 193

8 CÓMO PENSAMOS

TERCERA PARTE
FORMACIÓN DEL PENSAMIENTO

14. Actividad y la formación del pensamiento 207
15. De lo concreto a lo abstracto 221
16. El lenguaje y la formación del pensamiento 231
17. Observación e información en el adiestramiento mental 247
18. La recitación y la formación del pensamiento 259
19. Algunas conclusiones generales 277
Índice analítico y de nombres 289

2/26/22

12/12/21

12/12/21

12/12/21

12/12/21

12/12/21

12/12/21

12/12/21

A morality ''based on the study of human nature instead of upon disregard for it'' is the focus of this influential work by one of America's greatest educators and philosophers. John Dewey maintains that the key to social psychology lies in an understanding of the many varieties of habit; individual mental activity, on the other hand, is guided by the subordinate factors of impulse and intelligence.

''The mind,'' Dewey asserts, ''can be understood in the concrete only as a system of beliefs, desires, and purposes which are formed in the interaction of biological aptitudes with a social environment.'' His investigation focuses on three main areas: the place of habit in conduct; the place of impulse in conduct; and the place of intelligence in conduct. Each factor receives an incisive treatment, brimming with ideas, insights, and considered reflections.

This classic of its genre presents a rich banquet of food for thought, certain to be appreciated by educators, psycholo

Publiku dhe problemet e tij, 1927 është zbatim i doktrinës pragmatiste në fushën e mendimit politik: konceptet themelore politike, gjykimet për politikën, veprimtarinë dhe institucionet, duhet të formulohen nisur nga pasojat që ato prodhojnë e mandej prej tyre mund të shkohet në shkaqe të mëtejshme gjithësesi konkrete; sepse konceptet dhe gjykimet në mendimin politik janë të pamundura nisur nga qasje metafizike, aksiolo gjike etj, për më tepër këto të fundit janë relative dhe nuk mund të shërbejnë si bazë e qëndrueshme dhe e përbashkët e kërkimit. Duket se mendimi i tij pragmatist i shenjuar edhe nga relati vizmi kundrejt vlerave dhe besimi pozitivist te shkenca ka ndikuar thelbësisht mendimin bashkëkohës.

NA

Because this book is so far out of my comfort zone I gave it all the benefit of the doubt I could muster. I don't even disagree with most of it, it's just the author doesn't say all that much. A lot of the book is just one man's opinion on what art is. It's a word and its meaning is so vague you can define it a million ways. Some definitions are more internally consistent than others and this one is just fine.

There is a lot being made of the fact that art becomes art only when perceived and how it's a form of communication, somehow special and better than others. No, it's not. There's also some complaining about utility taking precedence over beauty when it comes to craftsmanship and that's not a bad thing. Beauty is a proxy for utility (evolutionary genetics don't lie) so it's fine.

I general, it's very thin on arguments and very dense with thoughts - written almost like a stream of consciousness with no structure. At least we get chapter headings.

One of the last books I needed to read for Modern Mrs. Darcy 2016 challenge was a book that intimated me. Well, that book happened to be Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education* by John Dewey. Over the winter break, I spent three days having an in-depth conversation with Mr. Dewey. I will not kid you, it was exhausting. After the three days, I was wiped out.

Dewey has some wonderful ideas about education, but in my opinion, he makes you work for each one of them. Read more

This is a stub.

Incredible.

The gist of the book is that it wants to negotiate meaningful differences between the philosophy of traditional schools on the one hand, and new “progressive” schools on the other. Dewey pushes back against a tendency in progressive schools’ nascent ideologies to position themselves as against the traditional schools; that is, progressive schools see themselves as whatever traditional schools aren’t, and as such apply value to being opposed to something for its own sake. And what Dewey wants to nip this tendency in the bud and explore what aspects of progressive schooling (free exploration, self-starting, teacher-as-facilitator) are valuable, not because of their position opposite some other practice, but on their own. He does this by highlighting how experience is the fundament of education, and one only learns and is educated when one’s experience improves both one’s current knowledge, and one’s future ability to learn and use that knowledge, and ideally, for the benefit of the people.

Dewey walks this line between liberal idealist and someone who really does believe that democracy is the best way to access each person’s individual will and apply that will to the collective for the better, because the causal power of the action resultant from a democratic choice is better. It’s reflective of the will of the group. It may not always be the best choice in the end. But it’s not all ends and means; we can’t chunk experience like that. Means are ends are means. Means are today’s ends, and so on.
This is pretty poorly explained, but this does get at what he’s talking about when he talks about education and experience and democracy. I need to learn more, have it be presented in a systematized and direct way, because he is sometimes hard to nail down in summary. But one thing I should be doing more of is summarizing the writers I’m after, and not be scared to get it wrong.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. did not lie: "But although Dewey’s book is incredibly ill written, it seemed to me after several re-readings to have a feeling of intimacy with the inside of the cosmos that I found unequalled. So [it seemed to me as] God would have spoken had He been inarticulate but keenly desirous to tell you how it was."