John Dewey’s 1937 Lectures in Philosophy and Education

John Dewey's 1937 Lectures in Philosophy and Education J. J. Chambliss John Dewey's most intense period of work in philosophy of education during and immediately after the Chicago years culminated in Democracy and Education in 1916. After that, he produced fewer writings on education, but is still remembered for The Sources of a Science of Education, Experience and Education, and numerous articles in journals. Yet the longest account of philosophy of education after Democracy and Education is little known. This is a course of lectures on educational philosophy given at the University of Cincinnati in 1937, two decades after Democracy and Education . A stenographic record of the lectures was made, which consists of 237 double-spaced typewritten pages. Two earlier sets of lectures in philosophy of education have survived — one given in 1896, the other in 1899. (The 1896, 1899, and 1937 lectures will be referenced as LI, L2, and L3, respectively.) The 1937 course was intensive: Dewey lectured for 5 days a week for two weeks in the 1937 Summer School, one lecture a day on two days, two lectures on each of the remaining 8 days, for a total of 18 lectures, June 7 to June 11, and June 14 to June 18. (For purposes of reference, the lectures are numbered 1-18; e.g., L3,15 means the 1937 lectures, lecture 15. The division into sub-headings was made by the present writer.) One change that had taken place since 1916 was the growth of philosophy of education as a distinct field of study in the United States. Prior to 1916, Herman Harrell Home's Philosophy of Education in 1904 was probably the first textbook by an American author. This was followed by John Angus Macvannel's Outline of a Course in the Philosophy of Education and G. E. Partridge's Genetic Philosophy of Education, both published in 1912. Other writers had entered the scene whose writings were on Dewey's reading list in 1937. Among them were W. H. Kilpatrick's Education for a Changing Civilization, Boyd H. Bode's Modern Educational Theories, and John Childs' Education and the Philosophy of Experimental ism. Perhaps the most striking difference between L3, on the one side, and LI, L2, and Democracy and Education on the other, can be seen in the place devoted to a discussion of philosophy and philosophy of education. In LI and L2 Dewey pays little direct attention to discussing the nature of philosophy of education but may be said to "do" philosophy of education; while in Democracy and Education he "does" philosophy of education for 23 chapters, then discusses the nature of its subject matter in Chapter 24 in relation to philosophy itself. However, in 1937, he begins the course by devoting the first lecture to the nature of philosophy and the second to the nature of philosophy of education. He explains this way of beginning the course by saying, "I suppose it ought to begin with something a little more concrete, but this preliminary discussion about philosophy in general, the philosophy of education in particular, seemed to be rather necessary, sort of a framework for the course." About his preliminary discussion, Dewey advises the students not to take it too seriously but, at the same time, "don't forget about it." It is to be used in later discussions "to go back to to be filled out." "After all," he says, "it is philosophy in its bearings upon educational problems that I am going to discuss." In beginning his discussion of the nature of philosophy, Dewey asks what there is about philosophy that is not futile, not a purely Education and Culture Spring. 2004 Vol. XX No. I 2 J.J. CHAMBLISS intellectual exercise, and replies that philosophizing is a form of reflective thought that comes about in response to social problems. The further question to explore is why are there problems that require philosophic inquiry distinct from scientific inquiry? Generally speaking, Dewey holds, philosophy arises in a conflict between wellingrained customs, traditions, and institutions in a social group, and new or unaccustomed ways of responding to those ingrained customs. When settled conditions continue for long periods and become fairly static...