Although a book called Democracy and Education was for many years that in which my philosophy, such as it is, was most fully expounded, I do not know that philosophic critics, as distinct from teachers, have ever had recourse to it. I have wondered whether such facts signified that philosophers in general, although they are themselves usually teachers, have not taken education with sufficient seriousness for it to occur to them that any rational person could actually think it possible that philosophizing should focus about education as the supreme human interest in which, moreover, other problems, cosmological, moral, logical, come to a head. At all events, this handle is offered to any subsequent critic who may wish to lay hold of it. (From "Absolutism to Experimentalism, p. 156").
Thank you for posting this citation, and for sending me the text it comes from. I've been meaning to ask, is there a suggested scholarly biography? I am sure that biographical research on Dewey should include many sources but is there a particular one which is referenced often or considered to be the standard?
ReplyDeleteThere are quite a major few bios. Each has a particular sort of focus. The Westbrook one I think is the general modern standard bio. But there other really good ones....
ReplyDeleteThe essay I sent you is Dewey's only or major autobiographical statement. Much studied and quoted. I can show you several bios on Saturday.