Fangqin Li
Philosophy of Education of John Dewey
Comprehensive class
05/23/08
The philosophy of education by Dewey
Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 are two chapters of philosophy of education for people who
want to be a teacher or for people who are learning as students, which generally
introduced John Dewey’s views of education and also most of other philosophers. The
central claims are to present what Dewey believed in education, what the relationship of
philosophy and education is, and what the relationship of psychology and philosophy and
education is. It is very easy for readers to read because it is divided into several subtopics,
which are discussed by using some historical context.
Chapter 2 introduced the original educational philosophy of Dewey and then
developed to present seven of his main theories separately. The author stated Dewey’s
philosophy views about the meaning and aims of education, psychology, theory of
knowledge, democracy and education, and the place of subject matter. And the author
used other philosophers’ agreement to Dewey’s views to prove that Dewey’s views of
philosophical education are right, reasonable, practical and workable. For example, a
British analytic philosopher, R. S. Peters, did not disagree with Dewey’s concept of the
aims of education. And also he explained the difference between purpose and aim,
because he felt that people misunderstood Dewey’s original thought of education.
Historical examples are being used in this chapter, which easily explains Dewey’s
perspective of education for people to understand. A comparison of previous views and
recent views gives readers a big picture to look at what Dewey believed. It can make
readers think which is more likely to fit our current education system, such as curriculum,
subject, the teacher’s role, the student’s role, and the way of teaching and learning. They
will feel that teachers and students both should get involved in contribution to their
teaching or learning. In other words, they should have their aims to do what they are
doing, which is a new perspective to see our education.
Chapter 3 introduces a historical background of philosophical education. It presents
what most philosophers think of teaching and learning in the beginning of the chapter,
and then tells us how Dewey thought of the same thing. It is cited in this chapter that
those philosophers’ agreement to Dewey’s view of teaching and learning, and also he
cited those philosophers’ disagreement to Dewey’s. For example, most philosophers
agreed that teachers have intention of motivating student to learn during the teaching
procedure, however, Paul Komisar disagreed with this statement. He pointed out that
what teachers are trying to do is awareness their students, but learning. This method will
develop the reader’s thoughts of philosophy of Education. Readers can choose what they
think is a good philosophy, and who they can believe. After they read the book, they can
build up a new knowledge of philosophy of education based on their previous knowledge.
All of those will be useful for our further study in philosophy of education.