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John Dewey

John Dewey Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous John Dewey Quotes

“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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“Resort to military force is a first sure sign that we are giving up the struggle for the democratic way of life, and that the Old World has conquered morally as well as geographically succeeding in imposing upon us its ideals and methods.”

WorldWayGivingFirstsWellsForceStruggleMilitarySucceedGiving UpIdealsMethodDemocraticResortsImposingOld WorldMilitary Force
Book:The Essential Dewey: Ethics, logic, psychology
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“As believers in democracy we have not only the right but the duty to question existing mechanisms of, say, suffrage and to inquire whether some functional organization would not serve to formulate and manifest public opinion better than the existing methods. It is not irrelevant to the point that a score of passages could be cited in which Jefferson refers to the American Government as an experiment.”

GovernmentOpinionDemocracyDutyOrganizationMethodBelieverExperimentsScoreManifestPassagesMechanismIrrelevantPublic OpinionSuffrageAmerican Government
Book:The Later Works, 1925-1953: 1938-1939
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“Schools are, indeed, one important method of the transmission which forms the dispositions of the immature; but it is only one means, and, compared with other agencies, a relatively superficial means. Only as we have grasped the necessity of more fundamental and persistent modes of tuition can we make sure of placing the scholastic methods in their true context.”

MeanImportantSchoolFormMethodFundamentalsAgencySuperficialDispositionPersistentImmatureTransmissionTuitionScholastics
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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“When the child sees the parent looking for something, it is as natural for it also to look for the object and to give it over when it finds it, as it was, under other circumstances, to receive it. Multiply such an instance by the thousand details of daily intercourse, and one has a picture of the most permanent and enduring method of giving direction to the activities of the young.”

GivingLooksChildrenYoungParentNaturalObjectsCircumstancesThousandActivityMethodEndureDetailsInstancePermanentIntercourseGiving Directions
Book:Democracy and Education: Top American Authors
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“There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract. The notion that some subjects and methods and that acquaintance with certain facts and truths possess educational value in and of themselves is the reason why traditional education reduced the material of education so largely to a diet of predigested materials.”

ReasonFactsCertainValuesSubjectsMaterialsMethodNotionEducationalTraditionalReason WhyDietsAbstractAcquaintanceTraditional Education
Book:Experience and Education, 60th Anniversary Edition
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“The theory of the method of knowing which is advanced in these pages may be termed pragmatic. ... Only that which has been organized into our disposition so as to enable us to adapt the environment to our needs and adapt our aims and desires to the situation in which we live is really knowledge.”

NeedsMayHas BeensScienceDesireSituationKnowledgeKnowingEnvironmentTheoryPagesAimMethodEnvironmentalOrganizedDispositionPragmatic
Book:Democracy And Education
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“That the great majority of those who leave school should have some idea of the kind of evidence required to substantiate given types of belief does not seem unreasonable. Nor is it absurd to expect that they should go forth with a lively interest in the ways in which knowledge is improved and a marked distaste for all conclusions reached in disharmony with the methods of scientific inquiry.”

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Book:The Middle Works, 1899-1924: 1910-1911
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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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“No government by experts in which the masses do not have the chance to inform the experts as to their needs can be anything but an oligarchy managed in the interest of the few. And the enlightenment must proceed in ways which force the administrative specialists to take account of the needs. The world has suffered more from leaders and authorities than from the masses. The essential need ... is the improvement of the methods and conditions of debate, discussion and persuasion. That is the problem of the public.”

WorldWayNeedsProblemGovernmentForceInterestChanceLeaderDemocracyConditionsEssentialsAuthorityMassEnlightenmentAccountsMethodImprovementDebateDiscussionExpertsPersuasionSpecialistsOligarchyAdministrative
Book:The Public and Its Problems: An Essay in Political Inquiry
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