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John Dewey

John Dewey Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous John Dewey Quotes

“A society which makes provision for participation in its good of all its members on equal terms and which secures flexible readjustment of its institutions through interaction of the different forms of associated life is in so far democratic. Such a society must have a type of education which gives individuals a personal interest in social relationships and control, and the habits of mind which secure social changes without introducing disorder.”

GivingMindDifferentFormLife IsIndividualSocialTermInterestTypeHabitEqualMembersInstitutionsDemocraticSecureDisorderInteractionIntroducingParticipationSocial ChangeFlexibleProvisionHabits Of MindPersonal InterestSocial Relationships
Book:Democracy And Education
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“While [Plato] affirmed with emphasis that the place of the individual in society should not be determined by birth or wealth or any conventional status, but by his own nature as discovered in the process of education, he had no perception of the uniqueness of individuals. For him they fall by nature into classes, and into a very small number of classes at that.”

ShouldFallIndividualProcessWealthNumbersClassBirthPerceptionDeterminedConventionalUniquenessPlatoEmphasisSmall Numbers
Book:Democracy and Education: Top American Authors
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“But progress in knowledge has made us aware of the superficiality of Plato's lumping of individuals and their original powers into a few sharply marked-off classes; it has taught us that original capacities are indefinitely numerous and variable. It is but the other side of this fact to say that in the degree in which society has become democratic, social organization means utilization of the specific and variable qualities of individuals, not stratification by classes.”

MeanMadeFactsIndividualSocialSidesQualityClassProgressTaughtDegreesCapacityOrganizationOriginalsDemocraticPlatoTaught UsVariablesSuperficialityPlato SSocial OrganizationUtilization
Book:Democracy And Education
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“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.”

IndividualSocialProcessConsciousnessShareActivityBasesMethodRegulationAdjustmentReconstructionSocial Consciousness
Book:The Early Works, 1882-1898: 1895-1898. Early essays
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“Every one of the constituent elements of a social group, in a modern city as in a savage tribe, is born immature, helpless, without language, beliefs, ideas, or social standards. Each individual, each unit who is the carrier of the life-experience of his group, in time passes away. Yet the life of the group goes on.”

IdeasIndividualBeliefLanguageSocialBornCitiesGroupsModernGoes OnElementsStandardsLife ExperienceSavagesHelplessUnitsTribesPassing AwayImmatureConstituentsTime PassesCarrierSocial Groups
Book:Democracy And Education
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“It is the office of the school environment to balance the various elements in the social environment, and to see to it that each individual gets an opportunity to escape from the limitations of the social group in which he was born, and to come into living contact with a broader environment.”

SchoolOpportunityIndividualSocialBornEnvironmentGroupsBalanceOfficeElementsVariousContactLimitationSocial GroupsSocial Environment
Book:Democracy And Education
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“By doing his share in the associated activity, the individual appropriates the purpose which actuates it, becomes familiar with its methods and subject matters, acquires needed skill, and is saturated with its emotional spirit.”

MatterSpiritPurposeIndividualShareSubjectsEmotionalNeededActivitySkillsMethodFamiliarAcquireSubject MatterSaturated
Book:Democracy and Education - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education
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“Of these three words, direction, control, and guidance, the last best conveys the idea of assisting through cooperation the natural capacities of the individuals guided; control conveys rather the notion of an energy brought to bear from without and meeting some resistance from the one controlled; direction is a more neutral term and suggests the fact that the active tendencies of those directed are led in a certain continuous course, instead of dispersing aimlessly.”

IdeasFactsLastsCertainThreeCoursesIndividualEnergyTermNaturalBearsCapacityMeetingsNotionActiveResistanceTendenciesGuidanceControlledCooperationThree WordsAssisting
Author:John Dewey
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“Individuals are certainly interested, at times, in having their own way, and their own way may go contrary to the ways of others. But they are also interested, and chiefly interested upon the whole, in entering into the activities of others and taking part in conjoint and cooperative doings. Otherwise, no such thing as a community would be possible.”

WayMayWholeWould BeIndividualCommunityActivityContraryEnteringCooperativesDoings
Book:Democracy And Education
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“The aim of education is to enable individuals to continue their education ... (and) the object and reward of learning is continued capacity for growth. Now this idea cannot be applied to all the members of a society except where intercourse of man with man is mutual, and except where there is adequate provision for the reconstruction of social habits and institutions by means of wide stimulation arising from equitably distributed interests. And this means a democratic society.”

MenMeanIdeasIndividualSocialGrowthInterestChangeEducationDemocracySocietyObjectsHabitMembersCapacityAimInstitutionsDemocraticRewardsWideMutualAdequateProvisionIntercourseDemocracies HaveReconstructionDemocratic SocietyStimulationSocial DemocracyAim Of Education
Book:Democracy And Education
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“Too rarely is the individual teacher so free from the dictation of authoritative supervisor, textbook on methods, prescribed course of study, etc., that he can let his mind come to close quarters with the pupil's mind and the subject matter.”

MindMatterCoursesIndividualStudyTeacherTeachingSubjectsMethodEtcQuartersSubject MatterPupilsTextbooksSupervisorsDictation
Book:Democracy and Education: Top American Authors
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“[T]he schools, through reliance upon the spur of competition and the bestowing of special honors and prizes, only build up and strengthen the disposition that makes an individual when he leaves school employ his special talents and superior skill to outwit his fellow without respect for the welfare of others”

SchoolIndividualSpecialTalentHonorSkillsFellowsCompetitionSuperiorsWelfarePrizeDispositionRelianceSpursSpecial TalentsCooperative Learning
Author:John Dewey
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“In a world that has so largely engaged in a mad and often brutally harsh race for material gain by means of ruthless competition, it behooves the school to make ceaseless and intelligently organized effort to develop above all else the will for co-operation and the spirit which sees in every other individual one who has an equal right to share in the cultural and material fruits of collective human invention, industry, skill and knowledge”

WorldHumansMeanSchoolSpiritIndividualEffortRaceShareMaterialsIndustrySkillsEqualGainsMadCompetitionFruitInventionOperationsEngagedOrganizedCollectivesHarshRuthlessHuman InventionsCooperative LearningSkills And Knowledge
Author:John Dewey
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“Our historic imagination is at best slightly developed. We generalise and idealise the past egregiously. We set up little toys to stand as symbols for centuries and the complicated lives of countless individuals.”

LittlesPastIndividualImaginationHistoryCenturyComplicatedSymbolsToysHistoricComplicated Life
Book:Characters and events: popular essays in social and political philosophy
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“Modern life means democracy, democracy means freeing intelligence for independent effectivenessthe emancipation of mind as an individual organ to do its own work. We naturally associate democracy, to be sure, with freedom of action, but freedom of action without freed capacity of thought behind it is only chaos.”

MindMeanActionIndividualBehindsDemocracyModernCapacityIndependentChaosOrgansAssociatesModern LifeEmancipationLife Means
Book:The Middle Works, 1899-1924
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“The good society was, like the good self, a diverse yet harmonious, growing yet unified whole, a fully participatory democracy in which the powers and capacities of the individuals that comprised it were harmonized by their cooperative activities into a community that permitted the full and free expression of individuality.”

SelfWholeIndividualCommunityDemocracyGrowingSocietyExpressionActivityCapacityIndividualityDiverseHarmoniousUnifiedCooperativesFree ExpressionParticipatory Democracy
Author:John Dewey
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