John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
, and
educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century.
The overriding theme of Dewey's works was his profound belief in
democracy
Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...
, be it in politics, education, or communication and journalism. As Dewey himself stated in 1888, while still at the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
, "Democracy and the one, ultimate,
ethical ideal of humanity are to my mind synonymous." Dewey considered two fundamental elements—schools and
civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.[public opinion
Public opinion, or popular opinion, is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them.
In the 21st century, public opinion is widely thought to be heavily ...]
, accomplished by communication among citizens, experts, and politicians.
Dewey was one of the primary figures associated with the philosophy of
pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics� ...
and is considered one of the founding thinkers of
functional psychology. His paper "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology", published in 1896, is regarded as the first major work in the (Chicago) functionalist school of psychology. A ''
Review of General Psychology
''Review of General Psychology'' is the quarterly scientific journal of the American Psychological Association Division 1: The Society for general psychology. The journal publishes cross-disciplinary psychological articles that are conceptual, theo ...
'' survey, published in 2002, ranked Dewey as the 93rd-most-cited psychologist of the 20th century.
Dewey was also a major educational reformer for the 20th century.
A well-known
public intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
, he was a major voice of
progressive education and
liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...
. While a professor at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
, he founded the
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where he was able to apply and test his progressive ideas on pedagogical method. Although Dewey is known best for his publications about education, he also wrote about many other topics, including
epistemology
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
,
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
,
aesthetics
Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...
,
art,
logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
,
social theory
Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, social theories re ...
, and
ethics
Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...
.
Life
Early life and education
John Dewey was born in
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...
, to a family of modest means. He was one of four boys born to Archibald Sprague Dewey and Lucina Artemisia Rich Dewey. Their first son was
also named John, but he died in an accident on January 17, 1859. The second John Dewey was born October 20, 1859, forty weeks after the death of his older brother. Like his older, surviving brother,
Davis Rich Dewey, he attended the
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...
, where he was initiated into
Delta Psi, and graduated
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
in 1879.
A significant professor of Dewey's at the University of Vermont was
Henry Augustus Pearson Torrey (H.A.P. Torrey), the son-in-law and nephew of former University of Vermont president
Joseph Torrey. Dewey studied privately with Torrey between his graduation from Vermont and his enrollment at
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
.
Career

After two years as a high-school teacher in
Oil City, Pennsylvania, and one year as an elementary school teacher in the small town of
Charlotte, Vermont, Dewey decided that he was unsuited for teaching primary or secondary school. After studying with
George Sylvester Morris,
Charles Sanders Peirce
Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". According to philosopher Paul Weiss (philosopher), Paul ...
,
Herbert Baxter Adams, and
G. Stanley Hall
Granville Stanley Hall (February 1, 1844 – April 24, 1924) was an American psychologist and educator who earned the first doctorate in psychology awarded in the United States of America at Harvard University in the nineteenth century. His ...
, Dewey received his
Ph.D. from the School of Arts & Sciences at
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
in 1884. His unpublished and now lost dissertation (criticizing
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...
from an
idealist position) was titled "The Psychology of Kant". In the same year, he accepted a faculty position at the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
(1884–88 and 1889–94) with the help of George Sylvester Morris.
In 1894, Dewey joined the newly founded
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
(1894–1904) where he developed his belief in Rational
Empiricism
In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...
, becoming associated with the newly emerging Pragmatic philosophy. His time at the University of Chicago resulted in four essays collectively entitled ''Thought and its Subject-Matter'', which was published with collected works from his colleagues at Chicago under the collective title ''Studies in Logical Theory'' (1904).
During that time, Dewey also initiated the
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where he was able to actualize the pedagogical beliefs that provided material for his first major work on education, ''
The School and Society'' (1899). Disagreements with the administration ultimately caused his resignation from the university, and soon thereafter he relocated near the East Coast. In 1899, Dewey was elected president of the
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...
(A.P.A.). From 1904 until his retirement in 1930 he was professor of philosophy at
Teachers College at Columbia University and influenced
Carl Rogers.
In 1905, he became president of the
American Philosophical Association
The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...
. He was a longtime member of the
American Federation of Teachers
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders.
About 60 pe ...
. Along with the historians
Charles A. Beard and
James Harvey Robinson, and the economist
Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Bunde Veblen (; July 30, 1857 – August 3, 1929) was an American Economics, economist and Sociology, sociologist who, during his lifetime, emerged as a well-known Criticism of capitalism, critic of capitalism.
In his best-known book ...
, Dewey is one of the founders of
The New School.
Dewey published more than 700 articles in 140 journals and approximately 40 books. His most significant writings were "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology" (1896), a critique of a standard psychological concept and the basis of all his further work; ''
Democracy and Education'' (1916), his celebrated work on progressive education; ''Human Nature and Conduct'' (1922), a study of the function of habit in human behavior; ''
The Public and its Problems'' (1927), a defense of democracy written in response to
Walter Lippmann's ''
The Phantom Public'' (1925); ''
Experience and Nature'' (1925), Dewey's most "metaphysical" statement; ''Impressions of Soviet Russia and the Revolutionary World'' (1929), a glowing travelogue from the nascent
USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.
''
Art as Experience'' (1934), was Dewey's major work on aesthetics; ''
A Common Faith'' (1934), a humanistic study of religion originally delivered as the
Dwight H. Terry Lectureship at Yale; ''Logic: The Theory of Inquiry'' (1938), a statement of Dewey's unusual conception of logic; ''
Freedom and Culture'' (1939), a political work examining the roots of fascism; and ''
Knowing and the Known'' (1949), a book written in conjunction with
Arthur F. Bentley that systematically outlines the concept of trans-action, which is central to his other works (see
Transactionalism).
While each of these works focuses on one particular philosophical theme, Dewey included his major themes in ''Experience and Nature''. However, dissatisfied with the response to the first (1925) edition, for the second (1929) edition he rewrote the first chapter and added a Preface in which he stated that the book presented what was later called a new (Kuhnian) paradigm: ''
'I have not striven in this volume for a reconciliation between the new and the old'
&N:4' ''.'' and he asserts Kuhnian incommensurability:
''
'To many the associating of the two words
experience' and 'nature'will seem like talking of a round square' but 'I know of no route by which dialectical argument can answer such objections. They arise from association with words and cannot be dealt with argumentatively'.'' The following can be interpreted now as describing a Kuhnian conversion process: ''
'One can only hope in the course of the whole discussion to disclose the
ewmeanings which are attached to "experience" and "nature," and thus insensibly produce, if one is fortunate, a change in the significations previously attached to them'
ll E&N:10''
Reflecting his immense influence on 20th-century thought,
Hilda Neatby wrote "Dewey has been to our age what
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
was to the
later Middle Ages, not a philosopher, but ''the'' philosopher."
Visits to China and Japan

In 1919, Dewey and his wife traveled to Japan on
sabbatical leave. Though Dewey and his wife were well received by the people of Japan during this trip, Dewey was also critical of the nation's governing system and claimed that the nation's path towards democracy was "ambitious but weak in many respects in which her competitors are strong".
He also warned that "the real test has not yet come. But if the nominally democratic world should go back on the professions so profusely uttered during war days, the shock will be enormous, and bureaucracy and militarism might come back."
During his trip to Japan, Dewey was invited by
Peking University
Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...
to visit China, probably at the behest of his former students,
Hu Shih and
Chiang Monlin. Dewey and his wife Alice arrived in Shanghai on April 30, 1919, just days before student demonstrators took to the streets of Peking to protest the decision of the Allies in Paris to cede the German-held territories in
Shandong
Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
province to Japan. Their
demonstrations on May Fourth excited and energized Dewey, and he ended up staying in China for two years, leaving in July 1921.
In these two years, Dewey gave nearly 200 lectures to Chinese audiences and wrote nearly monthly articles for Americans in ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'' and other magazines. Well aware of both Japanese expansionism into China and the attraction of
Bolshevism to some Chinese, Dewey advocated that Americans support China's transformation and that Chinese base this transformation in education and social reforms, not revolution. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of people attended the lectures, which were interpreted by Hu Shih. For these audiences, Dewey represented "Mr. Democracy" and "Mr. Science," the two personifications which they thought of representing modern values and hailed him as "the American Confucius". His lectures were lost at the time but have been rediscovered and were published in 2015. Dewey's lecture on "Three Contemporary Philosophers: Bertrand Russell, Henri Bergson and William James" at Peking University in 1919 was attended by a young
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
.
Zhixin Su states:
:Dewey was, for those Chinese educators who had studied under him, the great apostle of philosophic liberalism and experimental methodology, the advocate of complete freedom of thought, and the man who, above all other teachers, equated education to the practical problems of civic cooperation and useful living.
Dewey urged the Chinese to not import any Western educational model. He recommended to educators such as
Tao Xingzhi, that they use pragmatism to devise their own model school system at the national level. However, the national government was weak, and the provinces largely controlled by warlords, so his suggestions were praised at the national level but not implemented. However, there were a few implementations locally. Dewey's ideas did have influence in Hong Kong, and in Taiwan after the nationalist government fled there. In most of China, Confucian scholars controlled the local educational system before 1949 and they simply ignored Dewey and Western ideas. In Marxist and Maoist China, Dewey's ideas were systematically denounced.
Visit to Southern Africa
Dewey and his daughter Jane went to
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
in July 1934, at the invitation of the World Conference of New Education Fellowship in
Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
and
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
, where he delivered several talks. The conference was opened by the South African Minister of Education
Jan Hofmeyr, and Deputy Prime Minister
Jan Smuts. Other speakers at the conference included
Max Eiselen and
Hendrik Verwoerd, who later became prime minister of the
Nationalist
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
government that introduced
apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
.
Dewey's expenses were paid by the
Carnegie Foundation. He also traveled to
Durban
Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Situated on the east coast of South ...
,
Pretoria
Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country.
Pretoria strad ...
and
Victoria Falls in what was then
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...
(now
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
) and looked at schools, talked to pupils, and gave lectures to the administrators and teachers. In August 1934, Dewey accepted an honorary degree from the
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...
. The white-only governments rejected Dewey's ideas as too secular. However black people and their white supporters were more receptive.
Personal life
Dewey married
Alice Chipman in 1886 shortly after Chipman graduated with her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. The two had six children: Frederick Archibald Dewey,
Evelyn Riggs Dewey, Morris (who died young), Gordon Chipman Dewey, Lucy Alice Chipman Dewey, and
Jane Mary Dewey. Alice Chipman died in 1927 at the age of 68; weakened by a case of malaria contracted during a trip to Turkey in 1924 and a heart attack during a trip to Mexico City in 1926, she died from cerebral thrombosis on July 13, 1927.
Dewey married Estelle Roberta Lowitz Grant, "a longtime friend and companion for several years before their marriage" on December 11, 1946. At Roberta's behest, the couple adopted two siblings, Lewis (changed to John Jr.) and Shirley.
Dewey's interests and writings included many topics, and according to the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') is a freely available online philosophy resource published and maintained by Stanford University, encompassing both an online encyclopedia of philosophy and peer-reviewed original publication ...
, "a substantial part of his published output consisted of commentary on current domestic and international politics, and public statements on behalf of many causes. (He is probably the only philosopher in this encyclopedia to have published both on the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
and on the value of displaying art in post offices.)"
In 1917, Dewey met
F.M. Alexander in New York City and later wrote introductions to Alexander's ''Man's Supreme Inheritance'' (1918), ''Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual'' (1923) and ''The Use of the Self'' (1932). Alexander's influence is referenced in "Human Nature and Conduct" and "Experience and Nature." As well as his contacts with people mentioned elsewhere in the article, he also maintained correspondence with
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...
,
William M. Brown,
Martin Buber,
George S. Counts,
William Rainey Harper,
Sidney Hook, and
George Santayana.
Death
John Dewey died of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
on June 1, 1952, at his home in New York City after years of ill-health and was cremated the next day.
Functional psychology
At the University of Michigan, Dewey published his first two books, ''Psychology'' (1887), and ''Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding'' (1888), both of which expressed Dewey's early commitment to
British neo-Hegelianism. In ''Psychology'', Dewey attempted a synthesis between idealism and experimental science.
While still professor of philosophy at Michigan, Dewey and his junior colleagues,
James Hayden Tufts and
George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead (February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American philosopher, Sociology, sociologist, and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago. He was one of the key figures in the development of pragmatis ...
, together with his student
James Rowland Angell, all influenced strongly by the recent publication of
William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...
' ''
Principles of Psychology'' (1890), began to reformulate psychology, emphasizing the social environment on the activity of mind and behavior rather than the physiological psychology of
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (; ; 16 August 1832 – 31 August 1920) was a German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, one of the fathers of modern psychology. Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and biology, was t ...
and his followers.
By 1894, Dewey had joined Tufts, with whom he later wrote ''Ethics'' (1908) at the recently founded
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
and invited Mead and Angell to follow him, the four men forming the basis of the so-called "Chicago group" of psychology.
Their new style of psychology, later dubbed
functional psychology, had a practical emphasis on action and application. In Dewey's article "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology" which appeared in ''
Psychological Review
''Psychological Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers psychological theory. It was established by James Mark Baldwin (Princeton University) and James McKeen Cattell (Columbia University) in 1894 as a publication vehic ...
'' in 1896, he reasons against the traditional
stimulus-response understanding of the
reflex arc
A reflex arc is a neural pathway that controls a reflex. In vertebrates, most sensory neurons synapse in the spinal cord and the signal then travels through it into the brain. This allows for faster reflex actions to occur by activating spinal mo ...
in favor of a "circular" account in which what serves as "stimulus" and what as "response" depends on how one considers the situation and defends the unitary nature of the sensory motor circuit. While he does not deny the existence of stimulus, sensation, and response, he disagreed that they were separate, juxtaposed events happening like links in a chain. He developed the idea that there is a coordination by which the stimulation is enriched by the results of previous experiences. The response is modulated by sensorial experience.
Dewey was elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1899.
Dewey also expressed interest in work in the psychology of
visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...
performed by Dartmouth research professor
Adelbert Ames Jr. He had great trouble with listening, however, because it is known Dewey could not distinguish musical pitches—in other words was an
amusic.
Views
Education and teacher education
Dewey's educational theories were presented in ''
My Pedagogic Creed'' (1897), ''The Primary-Education Fetich'' (1898), ''
The School and Society'' (1900), ''The Child and the Curriculum'' (1902), ''
Democracy and Education'' (1916)
''Schools of To-morrow'' (1915) with
Evelyn Dewey, and ''
Experience and Education'' (1938). Several themes recur throughout these writings. Dewey continually argues that education and learning are social and interactive processes, and thus the school itself is a social institution through which social reform can and should take place. In addition, he believed that students thrive in an environment where they are allowed to experience and interact with the curriculum, and all students should have the opportunity to take part in their own learning.
The ideas of democracy and social reform are continually discussed in Dewey's writings on education. Dewey makes a strong case for the importance of education not only as a place to gain content knowledge, but also as a place to learn how to live. In his eyes, the purpose of education should not revolve around the acquisition of a pre-determined set of skills, but rather the realization of one's full potential and the ability to use those skills for the greater good. He notes that "to prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities" (''My Pedagogic Creed'', Dewey, 1897).
In addition to helping students realize their full potential, Dewey goes on to acknowledge that education and schooling are instrumental in creating social change and reform. He notes that "education is a regulation of the process of coming to share in the social consciousness; and that the adjustment of individual activity on the basis of this social consciousness is the only sure method of social reconstruction".
In addition to his ideas regarding
what education is and what effect it should have on society, Dewey also had specific notions regarding how education should take place within the classroom. In ''The Child and the Curriculum'' (1902), Dewey discusses two major conflicting schools of thought regarding educational pedagogy. The first is centered on the curriculum and focuses almost solely on the subject matter to be taught. Dewey argues that the major flaw in this methodology is the inactivity of the student; within this particular framework, "the child is simply the immature being who is to be matured; he is the superficial being who is to be deepened" (1902, p. 13). He argues that in order for education to be most effective, content must be presented in a way that allows the student to relate the information to prior experiences, thus deepening the connection with this new knowledge.
At the same time, Dewey was alarmed by many of the "child-centered" excesses of educational-school pedagogues who claimed to be his followers, and he argued that too much reliance on the child could be equally detrimental to the learning process. In this second school of thought, "we must take our stand with the child and our departure from him. It is he and not the subject-matter which determines both quality and quantity of learning" (Dewey, 1902, pp. 13–14). According to Dewey, the potential flaw in this line of thinking is that it minimizes the importance of the content as well as the role of the teacher.
In order to rectify this dilemma, Dewey advocated an educational structure that strikes a balance between delivering knowledge while also taking into account the interests and experiences of the student. He notes that "the child and the curriculum are simply two limits which define a single process. Just as two points define a straight line, so the present standpoint of the child and the facts and truths of studies define instruction" (Dewey, 1902, p. 16).
It is through this reasoning that Dewey became one of the most famous proponents of
hands-on learning or
experiential education, which is related to, but not synonymous with
experiential learning
Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students ...
. He argued that "if knowledge comes from the impressions made upon us by natural objects, it is impossible to procure knowledge without the use of objects which impress the mind" (Dewey, 1916/2009, pp. 217–18). Dewey's ideas went on to influence many other influential experiential models and advocates.
Problem-Based Learning
Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem found in trigger material. The PBL process does not focus on problem solving with a defined solution ...
(PBL), for example, a method used widely in education today, incorporates Dewey's ideas pertaining to learning through active inquiry.
Dewey not only re-imagined the way that the learning process should take place, but also the role that the teacher should play within that process. Throughout the history of American schooling, education's purpose has been to train students for work by providing the student with a limited set of skills and information to do a particular job. The works of John Dewey provide the most prolific examples of how this limited vocational view of education has been applied to both the K–12 public education system and to the teacher training schools that attempted to quickly produce proficient and practical teachers with a limited set of instructional and discipline-specific skills needed to meet the needs of the employer and demands of the workforce.

In ''The School and Society'' (Dewey, 1899) and ''Democracy of Education'' (Dewey, 1916), Dewey claims that rather than preparing citizens for ethical participation in society, schools cultivate passive pupils via insistence upon mastery of facts and disciplining of bodies. Rather than preparing students to be reflective, autonomous and ethical beings capable of arriving at social truths through critical and intersubjective discourse, schools prepare students for docile compliance with authoritarian work and political structures, discourage the pursuit of individual and communal inquiry, and perceive higher learning as a monopoly of the institution of education (Dewey, 1899; 1916).
For Dewey and his philosophical followers, education stifles individual autonomy when learners are taught that knowledge is transmitted in one direction, from the expert to the learner. Dewey not only re-imagined the way that the learning process should take place, but also the role that the teacher should play within that process. For Dewey, "The thing needful is improvement of education, not simply by turning out teachers who can do better the things that are not necessary to do, but rather by changing the conception of what constitutes education" (Dewey, 1904, p. 18).
Dewey's qualifications for teaching—a natural love for working with young children, a natural propensity to inquire about the subjects, methods and other social issues related to the profession, and a desire to share this acquired knowledge with others—are not a set of outwardly displayed mechanical skills. Rather, they may be viewed as internalized principles or habits which "work automatically, unconsciously" (Dewey, 1904, p. 15). Turning to Dewey's essays and public addresses regarding the teaching profession, followed by his analysis of the teacher as a person and a professional, as well as his beliefs regarding the responsibilities of teacher education programs to cultivate the attributes addressed, teacher educators can begin to reimagine the successful classroom teacher Dewey envisioned.
Professionalization of teaching as a social service
For many, education's purpose is to train students for work by providing the student with a limited set of skills and information to do a particular job. As Dewey notes, this limited vocational view is also applied to teacher training schools who attempt to quickly produce proficient and practical teachers with a limited set of instructional and discipline skills needed to meet the needs of the employer and demands of the workforce (Dewey, 1904). For Dewey, the school and the classroom teacher, as a workforce and provider of social service, have a unique responsibility to produce psychological and social goods that will lead to both present and future social progress.
As Dewey notes, "The business of the teacher is to produce a higher standard of intelligence in the community, and the object of the public school system is to make as large as possible the number of those who possess this intelligence. Skill, the ability to act wisely and effectively in a great variety of occupations and situations, is a sign and a criterion of the degree of civilization that a society has reached. It is the business of teachers to help in producing the many kinds of skills needed in contemporary life. If teachers are up to their work, they also aid in the production of character." (Dewey, TAP, 2010, pp. 241–42).
According to Dewey, the emphasis is placed on producing these attributes in children for use in their contemporary life because it is "impossible to foretell definitely just what civilization will be twenty years from now" (Dewey, MPC, 2010, p. 25). However, although Dewey is steadfast in his beliefs that education serves an immediate purpose (Dewey, DRT, 2010; Dewey, MPC, 2010; Dewey, TTP, 2010), he is not ignorant of the impact imparting these qualities of intelligence, skill, and character on young children in their present life will have on the future society. While addressing the state of educative and economic affairs during a 1935 radio broadcast, Dewey linked the ensuing economic depression to a "lack of sufficient production of intelligence, skill, and character" (Dewey, TAP, 2010, p. 242) of the nation's workforce.
As Dewey notes, there is a lack of these goods in the present society and teachers have a responsibility to create them in their students, who, we can assume, will grow into the adults who will ultimately go on to participate in whatever industrial or economic civilization awaits them. According to Dewey, the profession of the classroom teacher is to produce the intelligence, skill, and character within each student so that the democratic community is composed of citizens who can think, do and act intelligently and morally.
A teacher's knowledge

Dewey believed that successful classroom teacher possesses a passion for knowledge and intellectual curiosity in the materials and methods they teach. For Dewey, this propensity is an inherent curiosity and love for learning that differs from one's ability to acquire, recite and reproduce textbook knowledge. "No one," according to Dewey, "can be really successful in performing the duties and meeting these demands
f teachingwho does not retain
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
intellectual curiosity intact throughout
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
entire career" (Dewey, APT, 2010, p. 34).
According to Dewey, it is not that the "teacher ought to strive to be a high-class scholar in all the subjects he or she has to teach," rather, "a teacher ought to have an unusual love and aptitude in some one subject: history, mathematics, literature, science, a fine art, or whatever" (Dewey, APT, 2010, p. 35). The classroom teacher does not have to be a scholar in all subjects; rather, genuine love in one will elicit a feel for genuine information and insight in all subjects taught.
In addition to this propensity for study into the subjects taught, the classroom teacher "is possessed by a recognition of the responsibility for the constant study of school room work, the constant study of children, of methods, of subject matter in its various adaptations to pupils" (Dewey, PST, 2010, p. 37). For Dewey, this desire for the lifelong pursuit of learning is inherent in other professions (e.g., the architectural, legal and medical fields; Dewey, 1904 & Dewey, PST, 2010), and has particular importance for the field of teaching. As Dewey notes, "this further study is not a sideline but something which fits directly into the demands and opportunities of the vocation" (Dewey, APT, 2010, p. 34).
According to Dewey, this propensity and passion for intellectual growth in the profession must be accompanied by a natural desire to communicate one's knowledge with others. "There are scholars who have
he knowledgein a marked degree but who lack enthusiasm for imparting it. To the 'natural born' teacher learning is incomplete unless it is shared" (Dewey, APT, 2010, p. 35). For Dewey, it is not enough for the classroom teacher to be a lifelong learner of the techniques and subject-matter of education; she must aspire to share what she knows with others in her learning community.
A teacher's skill
The best indicator of teacher quality, according to Dewey, is the ability to watch and respond to the movement of the mind with keen awareness of the signs and quality of the responses his or her students exhibit with regard to the subject-matter presented (Dewey, APT, 2010; Dewey, 1904). As Dewey notes, "I have often been asked how it was that some teachers who have never studied the art of teaching are still extraordinarily good teachers. The explanation is simple. They have a quick, sure and unflagging sympathy with the operations and process of the minds they are in contact with. Their own minds move in harmony with those of others, appreciating their difficulties, entering into their problems, sharing their intellectual victories" (Dewey, APT, 2010, p. 36).
Such a teacher is genuinely aware of the complexities of this mind-to-mind transfer, and she has the intellectual fortitude to identify the successes and failures of this process, as well as how to appropriately reproduce or correct it in the future.
A teacher's disposition
As a result of the direct influence teachers have in shaping the mental, moral and spiritual lives of children during their most formative years, Dewey holds the profession of teaching in high esteem, often equating its social value to that of the ministry and to parenting (Dewey, APT, 2010; Dewey, DRT, 2010; Dewey, MPC, 2010; Dewey, PST, 2010; Dewey, TTC, 2010; Dewey, TTP, 2010). Perhaps the most important attributes, according to Dewey, are those personal inherent qualities that the teacher brings to the classroom. As Dewey notes, "no amount of learning or even of acquired pedagogical skill makes up for the deficiency" (Dewey, TLS, p. 25) of the personal traits needed to be most successful in the profession.
According to Dewey, the successful classroom teacher occupies an indispensable passion for promoting the intellectual growth of young children. In addition, they know that their career, in comparison to other professions, entails stressful situations, long hours, and limited financial reward; all of which have the potential to overcome their genuine love and sympathy for their students.
For Dewey, "One of the most depressing phases of the vocation is the number of careworn teachers one sees, with anxiety depicted on the lines of their faces, reflected in their strained high pitched voices and sharp manners. While contact with the young is a privilege for some temperaments, it is a tax on others and a tax which they do not bear up under very well. And in some schools, there are too many pupils to a teacher, too many subjects to teach, and adjustments to pupils are made in a mechanical rather than a human way. Human nature reacts against such unnatural conditions" (Dewey, APT, 2010, p. 35).
It is essential, according to Dewey, that the classroom teacher has the mental propensity to overcome the demands and stressors placed on them because the students can sense when their teacher is not genuinely invested in promoting their learning (Dewey, PST, 2010). Such negative demeanors, according to Dewey, prevent children from pursuing their own propensities for learning and intellectual growth. It can therefore be assumed that if teachers want their students to engage with the educational process and employ their natural curiosities for knowledge, teachers must be aware of how their reactions to young children and the stresses of teaching influence this process.
The role of teacher education to cultivate the professional classroom teacher
Dewey's passions for teaching—a natural love for working with young children, a natural propensity to inquire about the subjects, methods and other social issues related to the profession, and a desire to share this acquired knowledge with others—are not a set of outwardly displayed mechanical skills. Rather, they may be viewed as internalized principles or habits which "work automatically, unconsciously" (Dewey, 1904, p. 15). According to Dewey, teacher-education programs must turn away from focusing on producing proficient practitioners because such practical skills related to instruction and discipline (e.g., creating and delivering lesson plans, classroom management, implementation of an assortment of content-specific methods) can be learned over time during their everyday schoolwork with their students (Dewey, PST, 2010).
As Dewey notes, "The teacher who leaves the professional school with power in managing a class of children may appear to superior advantage the first day, the first week, the first month, or even the first year, as compared with some other teacher who has a much more vital command of the psychology, logic and ethics of development. But later 'progress' may consist only in perfecting and refining skill already possessed. Such persons seem to know how to teach, but they are not students of teaching. Even though they go on studying books of pedagogy, reading teachers' journals, attending teachers' institutes, etc., yet the root of the matter is not in them, unless they continue to be students of subject-matter, and students of mind-activity. Unless a teacher is such a student, he may continue to improve in the mechanics of school management, but he cannot grow as a teacher, an inspirer and director of soul-life" (Dewey, 1904, p. 15).
For Dewey, teacher education should focus not on producing persons who know how to teach as soon as they leave the program; rather, teacher education should be concerned with producing professional students of education who have the propensity to inquire about the subjects they teach, the methods used, and the activity of the mind as it gives and receives knowledge. According to Dewey, such a student is not superficially engaging with these materials, rather, the professional student of education has a genuine passion to inquire about the subjects of education, knowing that doing so ultimately leads to acquisitions of the skills related to teaching. Such students of education aspire for the intellectual growth within the profession that can only be achieved by immersing oneself in the lifelong pursuit of the intelligence, skills and character Dewey linked to the profession.
As Dewey notes, other professional fields, such as law and medicine cultivate a professional spirit in their fields to constantly study their work, their methods of their work, and a perpetual need for intellectual growth and concern for issues related to their profession. Teacher education, as a profession, has these same obligations (Dewey, 1904; Dewey, PST, 2010).
As Dewey notes, "An intellectual responsibility has got to be distributed to every human being who is concerned in carrying out the work in question, and to attempt to concentrate intellectual responsibility for a work that has to be done, with their brains and their hearts, by hundreds or thousands of people in a dozen or so at the top, no matter how wise and skillful they are, is not to concentrate responsibility—it is to diffuse irresponsibility" (Dewey, PST, 2010, p. 39). For Dewey, the professional spirit of teacher education requires of its students a constant study of school room work, constant study of children, of methods, of subject matter in its various adaptations to pupils. Such study will lead to professional enlightenment with regard to the daily operations of classroom teaching.
As well as his very active and direct involvement in setting up educational institutions such as the
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (1896) and
The New School for Social Research (1919), many of Dewey's ideas influenced the founding of
Bennington College and Goddard College in Vermont, where he served on the board of trustees. Dewey's works and philosophy also held great influence in the creation of the short-lived
Black Mountain College in North Carolina, an experimental college focused on interdisciplinary study, and whose faculty included
Buckminster Fuller,
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning ( , ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a US citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married pa ...
,
Charles Olson,
Franz Kline,
Robert Duncan,
Robert Creeley, and
Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman (September 9, 1911 – August 2, 1972) was an American writer and public intellectual best known for his 1960s works of social criticism. Goodman was prolific across numerous literary genres and non-fiction topics, including the ...
, among others. Black Mountain College was the locus of the "Black Mountain Poets" a group of avant-garde poets closely linked with the
Beat Generation and the
San Francisco Renaissance.
Journalism
Dewey's definition of "public," as described in ''
The Public and its Problems'', has profound implications for the significance of journalism in society. As suggested by the title of the book, his concern was of the transactional relationship between publics and problems. Also implicit in its name, public journalism seeks to orient communication away from elite, corporate hegemony toward a civic public sphere. "The 'public' of public journalists is Dewey's public."
Dewey gives a concrete definition to the formation of a public. Publics are spontaneous groups of citizens who share the indirect effects of a particular action. Anyone affected by the indirect consequences of a specific action will automatically share a common interest in controlling those consequences, i.e., solving a common problem.
Since every action generates
unintended consequences, publics continuously emerge, overlap, and disintegrate.
In ''The Public and its Problems'', Dewey presents a rebuttal to
Walter Lippmann's treatise on the role of journalism in democracy. Lippmann's model was a basic transmission model in which journalists took information given to them by experts and elites, repackaged that information in simple terms, and transmitted the information to the public, whose role was to react emotionally to the news. In his model, Lippmann supposed that the public was incapable of thought or action, and that all thought and action should be left to the experts and elites.
Dewey refutes this model by assuming that politics is the work and duty of each individual in the course of his daily routine. The knowledge needed to be involved in politics, in this model, was to be generated by the interaction of citizens, elites, experts, through the mediation and facilitation of journalism. In this model, not just the government is accountable, but the citizens, experts, and other actors as well.

Dewey also said that journalism should conform to this ideal by changing its emphasis from actions or happenings (choosing a winner of a given situation) to alternatives, choices, consequences, and
conditions, in order to foster conversation and improve the generation of knowledge. Journalism would not just produce a static product that told what had already happened, but the news would be in a constant state of evolution as the public added value by generating knowledge. The "audience" would end, to be replaced by citizens and collaborators who would essentially be users, doing more with the news than simply reading it. Concerning his effort to change journalism, he wrote in ''The Public and Its Problems'': "Till the Great Society is converted in to a Great Community, the Public will remain in eclipse. Communication can alone create a great community" (Dewey, p. 142).
Dewey believed that communication creates a great community, and citizens who participate actively with public life contribute to that community. "The clear consciousness of a communal life, in all its implications, constitutes the idea of democracy." (''The Public and its Problems'', p. 149). This Great Community can only occur with "free and full intercommunication." (p. 211) Communication can be understood as journalism.
Logic and method
Dewey sees paradox in contemporary logical theory. Proximate subject matter garners general agreement and advancement, while the ultimate subject matter of logic generates unremitting controversy. In other words, he challenges confident logicians to answer the question of the truth of logical operators. Do they function merely as abstractions (e.g., pure mathematics) or do they connect in some essential way with their objects, and therefore alter or bring them to light?
Logical positivism
Logical positivism, also known as logical empiricism or neo-positivism, was a philosophical movement, in the empiricist tradition, that sought to formulate a scientific philosophy in which philosophical discourse would be, in the perception of ...
also figured in Dewey's thought. About the movement he wrote that it "eschews the use of 'propositions' and 'terms', substituting 'sentences' and 'words'." ("General Theory of Propositions", in ''Logic: The Theory of Inquiry'') He welcomes this changing of referents "in as far as it fixes attention upon the symbolic structure and content of propositions." However, he registers a small complaint against the use of "sentence" and "words" in that without careful interpretation the act or process of transposition "narrows unduly the scope of symbols and language, since it is not customary to treat gestures and diagrams (maps, blueprints, etc.) as words or sentences." In other words, sentences and words, considered in isolation, do not disclose intent, which may be inferred or "adjudged only by means of context."
Yet Dewey was not entirely opposed to modern logical trends; indeed, the deficiencies in traditional logic he expressed hope for the trends to solve occupies the whole first part of same book. Concerning traditional logic, he states there:
Critical thinking

Dewey was pivotal in advancing the philosophy of education by emphasizing the role of experience and active problem-solving in cultivating critical thinking. In "How We Think",
[Dewey, J. ''How we think'' (1910). D.C. Heath and Company.] Dewey describes reflective thinking as an "active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends." (Processes of Thought diagram). Thinking is not merely the passive absorption of facts but an active, dynamic process that involves questioning, analyzing, and transforming experiences into meaningful conclusions. Dewey's approach transformed traditional education by advocating for an interactive classroom environment. His contributions laid the groundwork for modern pedagogical methods that not only focus on the acquisition of factual knowledge but also foster the development of independent thought, creativity, and a deeper understanding of how to apply learning in everyday life.

Many authors thus regard Dewey as a key figure in affirming the importance of critical thinking in education. Dewey used the term "critical thinking" in the first edition of his book ''How We Think'', but the term did not originate with Dewey.
In "How We Think",
Dewey also delved further into the design of learning experiences to encourage reflective thinking. Moreover, Dewey described his vision for the design of poorly executed thinking and well executed thinking processes –the difference being the exclusion or inclusion of reflective thought, respectively.
He also detailed the design of sub-processes within reflective thought, which consist of skepticism and investigation to either find facts and evidence to support or nullify suggested beliefs.
Aesthetics
''Art as Experience'' (1934) is Dewey's major writing on aesthetics.
It is, in accordance with his place in the Pragmatist tradition that emphasizes community, a study of the individual art object as embedded in (and inextricable from) the experiences of a local culture. In the original illustrated edition, Dewey drew on the modern art and world cultures collection assembled by
Albert C. Barnes at the
Barnes Foundation, whose own ideas on the application of art to one's way of life was influenced by Dewey's writing. Dewey made art through writing poetry, but he considered himself deeply unmusical: one of his students described Dewey as "allergic to music." Barnes was particularly influenced by ''Democracy and Education'' (1916) and then attended Dewey's seminar on political philosophy at Columbia University in the fall semester of 1918.
Philanthropy, women and democracy
Dewey founded the University of Chicago
laboratory school, supported educational organizations, and supported settlement houses especially
Jane Addams
Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...
' Hull House.
John Dewey and Jane Addams influenced each other's expansive theory of democracy.
Through his work at the
Hull House serving on its first board of trustees, Dewey was not only an activist for the cause but also a partner working to serve the large immigrant community of Chicago and women's suffrage. Dewey experienced the lack of children's education while contributing in the classroom at the Hull House. There he also experienced the lack of education and skills of immigrant women.
Stengel argues:
His leading views on democracy included:
First, Dewey believed that democracy is an ethical ideal rather than merely a political arrangement. Second, he considered participation, not representation, the essence of democracy. Third, he insisted on the harmony between democracy and the scientific method: ever-expanding and self-critical communities of inquiry, operating on pragmatic principles and constantly revising their beliefs in light of new evidence, provided Dewey with a model for democratic decision making ... Finally, Dewey called for extending democracy, conceived as an ethical project, from politics to industry and society.
This helped to shape his understanding of human action and the unity of human experience.
Dewey believed that a woman's place in society was determined by her environment and not just her biology. On women he says, "You think too much of women in terms of sex. Think of them as human individuals for a while, dropping out the sex qualification, and you won't be so sure of some of your generalizations about what they should and shouldn't do".
John Dewey's support helped to increase the support and popularity of Jane Addams' Hull House and other settlement houses as well. With growing support, involvement of the community grew as well as the support for the women's suffrage movement.
As commonly argued by Dewey's greatest critics, he was not able to come up with strategies in order to fulfill his ideas that would lead to a successful democracy, educational system, and a successful women's suffrage movement. While knowing that traditional beliefs, customs, and practices needed to be examined in order to find out what worked and what needed improved upon, it was never done in a systematic way.
"Dewey became increasingly aware of the obstacles presented by entrenched power and alert to the intricacy of the problems facing modern cultures".
With the complex of society at the time, Dewey was criticized for his lack of effort in fixing the problems.
With respect to technological developments in a democracy:
His work on democracy influenced
B. R. Ambedkar, one of his students, who later served as a Law and Justice Minister of India.
Religion
Historians have examined his religious beliefs. Biographer
Steven Clark Rockefeller traced Dewey's democratic convictions to his childhood attendance at the
Congregational Church
Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...
, with its strong proclamation of social ideals and the
Social Gospel. Historian Edward A. White suggested in ''
Science and Religion in American Thought'' (1952) that Dewey's work led to the 20th-century rift between religion and science.
Dewey went through an "evangelical" development as a child. As an adult he was negative, or at most neutral, about theology in education. He instead took a
meliorist position with the goal of scientific humanism and educational and social reform without recourse to religion.
As an
atheist and a
secular humanist in his later life, Dewey participated with a variety of humanistic activities from the 1930s into the 1950s, which included sitting on the advisory board of
Charles Francis Potter's
First Humanist Society of New York (1929); being one of the original 34 signatories of the first ''
Humanist Manifesto'' (1933) and being elected an honorary member of the Humanist Press Association (1936).
His opinion of humanism is summarized in his own words from an article titled "What Humanism Means to Me", published in the June 1930 edition of ''Thinker 2'':
Pragmatism, instrumentalism, consequentialism
Dewey sometimes referred to his philosophy as
instrumentalism rather than
pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics� ...
and would have recognized the similarity of these two schools to the newer school named
consequentialism. In some phrases introducing a book he wrote later in life meant to help forestay a wandering kind of criticism of the work based on the controversies due to the differences in the schools that he sometimes invoked, he defined at the same time with precise brevity the criterion of validity common to these three schools, which lack agreed-upon definitions:
His concern for precise definition led him to detailed analysis of careless word usage, reported in ''Knowing and the Known'' in 1949.
Dewey also regularly refers and discusses the definitions of pragmatism used by other philosophers within the movement such as Charles Pierce and William James when trying to pin down his own definitions in his ''Essays in Experimental Logic''. Regarding Pierce he writes "Mr. Pierce explained that he took the term 'pragmatic' from Kant, in order to denote empirical consequences." Following this statement he also introduces James' usage of the term pragmatism when he writes "what is important is that the consequences should be specific... When he
amessaid that general notions must 'cash in', he meant of course that they must be translatable into verifiable specific things.
Epistemology
The terminology problem in the fields of epistemology and logic is partially due, according to Dewey and Bentley, to inefficient and imprecise use of words and concepts that reflect three historic levels of organization and presentation. In the order of chronological appearance, these are:
* Self-Action: Prescientific concepts regarded humans, animals, and things as possessing powers of their own which initiated or caused their actions.
* Interaction: as described by Newton, where things, living and inorganic, are balanced against something in a system of interaction, for example, the
third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
* Transaction: where modern systems of descriptions and naming are employed to deal with multiple aspects and phases of action without any attribution to ultimate, final, or independent entities, essences, or realities.
A series of characterizations of
Transactions indicate the wide range of considerations involved.
Social and political activism
1894 Pullman Strike
While Dewey was at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
, his letters to his wife Alice and his colleague
Jane Addams
Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...
reveal that he closely followed the 1894
Pullman Strike, in which the employees of the Pullman Palace Car Factory in Chicago decided to go on strike after industrialist
George Pullman refused to lower rents in his company town after cutting his workers' wages by nearly 30 percent. On May 11, 1894, the strike became official, later gaining the support of the members of the
American Railway Union, whose leader
Eugene V. Debs called for a nationwide boycott of all trains including Pullman sleeping cars.
[Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club, (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001), 285–333.]
Considering most trains had Pullman cars, the main 24 lines out of Chicago were halted and the mail was stopped as the workers destroyed trains all over the United States. President
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...
used the mail as a justification to send in the National Guard, and ARU leader Eugene Debs was arrested.
Dewey wrote to Alice: "The only wonder is that when the 'higher classes' – damn them – take such views there aren't more downright socialists.
.. at a representative journal of the upper classes – damn them again – can take the attitude of that harper's weekly", referring to headlines such as "Monopoly" and "Repress the Rebellion", which claimed, in Dewey's words, to support the sensational belief that Debs was a "criminal" inspiring hate and violence in the equally "criminal" working classes. He concluded: "It shows what it is to be a higher class. And I fear Chicago Univ. is a capitalistic institution – that is, it too belongs to the higher classes."
Pro-war stance in First World War
Dewey was an advocate of US participation in the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. For this he was criticised by
Randolph Bourne
Randolph Silliman Bourne (; May 30, 1886 – December 22, 1918) was a progressive writer and intellectual born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and a graduate of Columbia University. He is considered to be a spokesman for the young radicals living d ...
, a former student whose essay "
Twilight of Idols", was published in the literary journal ''
Seven Arts'' in October 1917. Bourne criticised Dewey's
instrumental
An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...
pragmatist philosophy.
International League for Academic Freedom

As a major advocate of academic freedom, in 1935 Dewey, together with
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
and
Alvin Johnson, became a member of the United States section of the International League for Academic Freedom, and in 1940, together with
Horace Kallen, edited a series of articles related to the
Bertrand Russell Case.
Dewey Commission
He directed the famous
Dewey Commission held in Mexico in 1937, which cleared
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
of the charges made against him by
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
,
and marched for
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
, among many other causes.
League for Industrial Democracy
In 1939, Dewey was elected President of the
League for Industrial Democracy, an organization with the goal of educating college students about the labor movement. The Student Branch of the L.I.D. later became the
Students for a Democratic Society.
As well as defending the independence of teachers and opposing a communist takeover of the New York Teachers' Union, Dewey was involved in the organization that eventually became the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
, sitting as an executive on the NAACP's early executive board.
He was an avid supporter of
Henry George
Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist, Social philosophy, social philosopher and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of ...
's proposal for taxing land values. Of George, he wrote, "No man, no graduate of a higher educational institution, has a right to regard himself as an educated man in social thought unless he has some first-hand acquaintance with the theoretical contribution of this great American thinker." As honorary president of the Henry George School of Social Science, he wrote a letter to
Henry Ford urging him to support the school.
Academic awards and honors
* Elected member of the United States
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
(1910)
* Elected member of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
(1911)
* Copernican Citation (1943)
* Doctor "
honoris causa" –
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...
(1946);
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
(1946);
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
(1951);
University of Rome (1951)
Honors

*
Dewey University in
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
is a private university named for Dewey.
*
John Dewey High School in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
is named after him.
*
John Dewey Academy of Learning in
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the head of Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the F ...
is a charter school named after him.
* The
John Dewey Academy in Great Barrington, MA is a college preparatory therapeutic boarding school for troubled adolescents.
* John Dewey Elementary School in Warrensville Hts., Ohio, an Eastern Suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, is named after him.
* John Dewey Middle School in Adams County in Denver, Colorado is a junior high school named after him.
Dewey Hall, a building on the campus of the University of Vermont is named after him.
* The
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...
honored Dewey with a
Prominent Americans series 30¢
postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...
in 1968.
Publications
Besides publishing prolifically himself, Dewey also sat on the boards of scientific publications such as ''
Sociometry'' (advisory board, 1942) and ''
The Journal of Social Psychology'' (editorial board, 1942), as well as having posts at other publications such as ''
The New Leader'' (contributing editor, 1949).
The following publications by John Dewey are referenced or mentioned in this article. A more complete list of his publications may be found at
John Dewey bibliography.
*
The New Psychology", ''Andover Review'', 2, 278–89 (1884)
''Psychology'' (1887) (1888)
*
" ''Philosophical Review'', 3, 337–41 (June 24, 1894)
(1896)
* "
My Pedagogic Creed" (1897)
''The School and Society'' (1899)''The Child and the Curriculum ''(1902)
''The Relation of Theory to Practice in Education'' (1904)(1905)
* ''Moral Principles in Education'' (1909), The Riverside Press Cambridge
Project Gutenberg
* ''
How We Think
''How We Think'' is a book written by the American educational philosopher John Dewey, published in 1910. The 1910 edition is in the public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive in ...
'' (1910)
*
German Philosophy and Politics' (1915)
* ''
Democracy and Education: an introduction to the philosophy of education'' (1916)
*
Reconstruction in Philosophy' (1919)
* ''Letters from China and Japan'' (1920
online* ''China, Japan and the U.S.A.'' (1921
online* , An Introduction to Social Psychology (1922) Parts 1–4
*
Experience and Nature' (1925)
* ''
The Public and its Problems'' (1927)
''The Quest for Certainty'' Gifford Lectures (1929)
* The Sources of a Science of Education (1929), The Kappa Delta Pi Lecture Series
* ''
Individualism Old and New'' (1930)
''Philosophy and Civilization'' (1931)* Ethics, second edition (with James Hayden Tufts) (1932)
* ''
Art as Experience'' (1934)
* ''
A Common Faith'' (1934)
* ''Liberalism and Social Action'' (1935)
* ''
Experience and Education'' (1938)
* ''Logic: The Theory of Inquiry'' (1938)
* ''
Freedom and Culture'' (1939)
* ''Theory of Valuation'' (1939).
* ''
Knowing and the Known'' (1949)
* ''Unmodern Philosophy and Modern Philosophy'' (Lost in 1947, finally published in 2012)
[Dewey worked on this book from 1939 before its loss in 1947. For a full account of this publication's history, see '' Philosophy Now'' magazine]
here (link)
, accessed 3 June 2014.
* ''Lectures in China, 1919–1920'' lost; finally published 1973
online
See also
* ''The Philosophy of John Dewey'', Edited by John J. McDermott.
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...
, 1981.
* ''The Essential Dewey: Volumes 1 and 2''. Edited by Larry Hickman and Thomas Alexander.
Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes ...
, 1998.
* "To those who aspire to the profession of teaching" (APT). In Simpson, D.J., & Stack, S.F. (eds.), ''Teachers, leaders and schools: Essays by John Dewey'' (33–36). Carbonale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.
* "The classroom teacher" (CRT). In Simpson, D.J., & Stack, S.F. (eds.), ''Teachers, leaders and schools: Essays by John Dewey'' (153–60). Carbonale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.
* "The duties and responsibilities of the teaching profession" (DRT). In Simpson, D.J., & Stack, S.F. (eds.), ''Teachers, leaders and schools: Essays by John Dewey'' (245–48). Carbonale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.
* "The educational balance, efficiency and thinking" (EET). In Simpson, D.J., & Stack, S.F. (eds.), ''Teachers, leaders and schools: Essays by John Dewey'' (41–45). Carbonale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.
* "My pedagogic creed" (MPC). In Simpson, D.J., & Stack, S.F. (eds.), ''Teachers, leaders and schools: Essays by John Dewey'' (24–32). Carbonale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.
* "Professional spirit among teachers" (PST). In Simpson, D.J., & Stack, S.F. (eds.), ''Teachers, leaders and schools: Essays by John Dewey'' (37–40). Carbonale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.
* "The teacher and the public" (TAP). In Simpson, D.J., & Stack, S.F. (eds.), ''Teachers, leaders and schools: Essays by John Dewey'' (214–44). Carbonale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.
Dewey's Complete Writings is available in four multi-volume sets (38 volumes in all) from Southern Illinois University Press:
* ''The Early Works: 1892–1898'' (5 volumes)
* ''The Middle Works: 1899–1924'' (15 volumes)
* ''The Later Works: 1925–1953'' (17 volumes)
* ''Supplementary Volume 1: 1884–1951''
The Collected Works of John Dewey: 1882–1953'',
The Correspondence of John Dewey 1871–1952'', and
The Lectures of John Dewey'' are available online via monographic purchase to academic institutions and via subscription to individuals, and also in TEI format for university servers in th
Past Masters series. (The CD-ROM has been discontinued.)
See also
*
Center for Dewey Studies
*
Democratic education
*
Dewey Commission
*
Inquiry-based learning
*
Instrumental and value-rational action
*
John Dewey bibliography
*
John Dewey Society
*
League for Independent Political Action
*
Malting House School
*
Pragmatic ethics
*
Village Institutes
Notes
References
* Caspary, William R
''Dewey on Democracy'' (2000). Cornell University Press.
* Martin, Jay. ''The Education of John Dewey.'' (2003).
Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...
* Rockefeller, Stephen. ''John Dewey: Religious Faith and Democratic Humanism.'' (1994). Columbia University Press
* Rud, A.G., Garrison, Jim, and Stone, Lynda (eds.) ''John Dewey at 150: Reflections for a New Century.'' West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2009.
*
Ryan, Alan. ''John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism.'' (1995). W.W. Norton.
*
Westbrook, Robert B. ''John Dewey and American Democracy.'' (1993).
Cornell University Press
The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...
.
Further reading
* Alexander, Thomas. ''John Dewey's Theory of Art, Experience, and Nature'' (1987).
SUNY Press
The State University of New York Press (more commonly referred to as the SUNY Press) is a university press affiliated with the State University of New York system. The press, which was founded in 1966, is located in Albany, New York and publishe ...
.
* Bernstein, Richard J. ''John Dewey'' (1966), Washington Square Press.
* Boisvert, Raymond. ''John Dewey: Rethinking Our Time''. (1997). SUNY Press.
* Campbell, James. ''Understanding John Dewey: Nature and Cooperative Intelligence'' (1995). Open Court Publishing Company.
* Crick, Nathan. ''Democracy & Rhetoric: John Dewey on the Arts of Becoming'' (2010). University of South Carolina Press.
* Fishman, Stephen M. and Lucille McCarthy. ''John Dewey and the Philosophy and Practice of Hope'' (2007). University of Illinois Press.
* Garrison, Jim. ''Dewey and Eros: Wisdom and Desire in the Art of Teaching''. Charlotte: Information Age Publishing, 2010. Original published 1997 by Teachers College Press.
*
* Hickman, Larry A. ''John Dewey's Pragmatic Technology'' (1992). Indiana University Press.
* Hickman, Larry A., Flamm, Matthew C., Skowroński, Krzysztof P., and Rea Jennifer A., eds. (2011),
The Continuing Relevance of John Dewey', Rodopi / Brill.
* Hook, Sidney. ''John Dewey: An Intellectual Portrait'' (1939).
* Howlett, Charles F., and Audrey Cohan, eds. ''John Dewey: America's Peace-Minded Educator'' (Southern Illinois UP, 2016), pp. 305.
* Kannegiesser, H.J. "Knowledge and Science" (1977). The Macmillan Company of Australia PTY Ltd.
*
* Knoll, Michael (2022). ''Beyond Rhetoric: New Perspectives von John Dewey's Pedagogy'' (Bern: Peter Lang). pp. 410.
* Knoll, Michael (2009)
. ''Journal of Curriculum Studies'' 41 (June), 3, pp. 361–91.
* Knoll, Michael (2014)
. D.C. Phillips (ed), ''Encyclopaedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy'', Vol. 2 (London: Sage), pp. 455–58.
* Knoll, Michael (2014)
John Dewey as Administrator: The Inglorious End of the Laboratory School in Chicago. ''Journal of Curriculum Studies'', 47 (April), 2, pp. 203–52.
* Knoll, Michael (2024) ''John Dewey's Laboratory School: The Rise and Fall of a World-Famous Experiment'' (New York: Palgrave).
*
Lamont, Corliss (1959), (ed., with the assistance of Mary Redmer). ''Dialogue on John Dewey''. Horizon Press.
* Morse, Donald J. ''Faith in Life: John Dewey's Early Philosophy.'' (2011).
Fordham University Press.
* Pappas, Gregory. ''John Dewey's Ethics: Democracy as Experience'' (2008), Indiana University Press.
*
*
Popkewitz, Thomas S. (ed). ''Inventing the Modern Self and John Dewey: Modernities and the Traveling of Pragmatism in Education'' (2005), New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
* Putnam, Hilary. "Dewey's ''Logic'': Epistemology as Hypothesis". In ''Words and Life'', ed. James Conant. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.
* Ralston, Shane. ''John Dewey's Great Debates-Reconstructed''. (2011).
Information Age Publishing.
*
* Rogers, Melvin. ''The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy'' (2008). Columbia University Press.
* Roth, Robert J. ''John Dewey and Self-Realization.'' (1962).
Prentice Hall
Prentice Hall was a major American publishing#Textbook_publishing, educational publisher. It published print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market. It was an independent company throughout the bulk of the twentieth cen ...
.
* Rorty, Richard. "Dewey's Metaphysics". In ''The Consequences of Pragmatism: Essays 1972–1980''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982.
* Seigfried, Charlene Haddock, (ed.). ''Feminist Interpretations of John Dewey'' (2001).
Pennsylvania State University Press.
* Shook, John. ''Dewey's Empirical Theory of Knowledge and Reality.'' (2000). The Vanderbilt Library of American Philosophy.
* Sleeper, R.W. ''The Necessity of Pragmatism: John Dewey's Conception of Philosophy''. Introduction by Tom Burke. (2001).
University of Illinois Press
The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois System. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, thirty-three scholarly journals, and several electroni ...
.
*
Talisse, Robert B. ''A Pragmatist Philosophy of Democracy'' (2007). Routledge.
* Waks, Leonard J. and Andrea R. English, eds. ''John Dewey's Democracy and Education: A Centennial Handbook'' (2017)
excerpt.
* White, Morton. ''The Origin of Dewey's Instrumentalism'' (1943). Columbia University Press.
External links
Center for Dewey Studies
*
John Dewey Papers, 1858–1970 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center
*
John Dewey Chronology at Southern Illinois University*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewey, John
1859 births
1952 deaths
19th-century American philosophers
19th-century atheists
20th-century American philosophers
20th-century atheists
American atheists
American democratic socialists
American humanists
American logicians
American political philosophers
Analytic philosophers
Atheist philosophers
American epistemologists
Georgists
Ontologists
American philosophers of art
American philosophers of mind
American philosophers of science
American philosophers of technology
Pragmatists
Vermont socialists
19th-century educational theorists
19th-century psychologists
20th-century American educational theorists
20th-century American psychologists
Education in Chicago
Functionalist psychologists
19th-century American writers
20th-century American writers
Writers about the Soviet Union
Writers from Burlington, Vermont
American Federation of Teachers people
Columbia University faculty
Johns Hopkins University alumni
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Presidents of the American Association of University Professors
Presidents of the American Psychological Association
Teachers College, Columbia University faculty
University of Chicago faculty
University of Michigan faculty
University of Vermont alumni
American educational psychologists
Members of the Men's League
Presidents of the American Philosophical Society
American founders