The Low-Church Idea of a University

2021 ◽  
pp. 175-188
Author(s):  
George M. Marsden
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
John Dewey ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Efficiency Expert ◽  
Upton Sinclair ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Democratic Ideals ◽  
Biblical Scholar ◽  
The University

William Rainey Harper, founder of the University of Chicago, was an accomplished biblical scholar who convinced John D. Rockefeller Sr. that Baptists needed a great university. While Harper emphasized Christian character, chapel, community, and Christian dimensions in teaching, he was also an efficiency expert who was later accused, as by Upton Sinclair and Thorsten Veblen, of building a university too much beholden to business interests. Amos Alonzo Stagg saw football as contributing to building character and community. In Harper’s “low-church idea of a university,” America was his parish. Sociology, as represented by Albion Small, was presented as a Christian and democratic moral enterprise and can be seen as a last flowering of moral philosophy. John Dewey, who had abandoned earlier Christian faith, exemplifies how a broadly Christian moral heritage might blend with democratic ideals.

scholarly journals ELLA FLAGG YOUNG AND THE GENDER POLITICS OF DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie M. Blount
Keyword(s):  
John Dewey ◽  
Gender Politics ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Democratic Schools ◽  
Intellectually Gifted ◽  
Democracy And Education ◽  
The University

Though John Dewey had considered education and democracy separately in his early career, he came to understand them as essentially linked concepts during his nearly ten-year collaboration with Ella Flagg Young at the University of Chicago. This intellectually gifted women, who eventually became superintendent of Chicago’s schools, connected education and democracy as well as theory and practice, essentially showing Dewey how democratic schools might work. This article briefly traces Dewey’s developing ideas of education and democracy in the context of his relationship with Young.

The sociologist as human scientist: the meaning of Shils

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-60
Author(s):  
Thomas Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Contemporary Sociology ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Edward Shils ◽  
The University ◽  
Human Scientist ◽  
Contemporary Social Theory

The writings of Edward Shils have been widely neglected in contemporary sociology. One major reason for this neglect is due to the contradictory receptions of his ideas. There have been two dominant lines of interpretation—the functionalist as well as the practice-theoretical paradigm of understanding of Shils’ writings—and they are not consistent with each other. Therefore, a more comprehensive understanding of Shils’ thinking needs to take into account his close attachment to the University of Chicago and to some of its pragmatist traditions. The suggestion in this paper is that we should read Shils from a standpoint which is called a human scientific approach. Thus, placing Shils in the context of contemporary social theory and moral philosophy reveals similarities to what has been called ‘sacralisation’ and ‘affirmative genealogy’.

scholarly journals Person of the Issue: John Dewey (1859-1952)

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ankit Patel
Keyword(s):  
John Dewey ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
High School Teacher ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Vermont ◽  
Oil City ◽  
Functional Psychology

John Dewey (October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey is one of the primary figures associated with philosophy of pragmatism and is considered one of the founders of functional psychology. A well-known public intellectual, he was also a major voice of progressive education and liberalism. Although Dewey is known best for his publications about education, he also wrote about many other topics, including epistemology, metaphysics, aesthetics, art, logic, social theory, and ethics. John Dewey graduated from the University of Vermont and spent three years as a high school teacher in Oil City, Pennsylvania. He then spent a year studying under the guidance of G. Stanley Hall at John Hopkins University in America’s first psychology lab. After earning his Ph.D. from John Hopkins, Dewey went on to teach at the University of Michigan for nearly a decade. In 1894, Dewey accepted a position as the chairman of the department of philosophy, psychology and pedagogy at the University of Chicago. It was at the University of Chicago that Dewey began to formalize his views that would contribute so heavily to the school of thought known as pragmatism. The central tenant of pragmatism is that the value, truth or meaning of an idea lies in its practical consequences. Dewey also helped establish the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where he was able to directly his apply his pedagogical theories.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document