Democracy, Student Movement and Thinking: A Response to Michael A. Peters’ Article

In this essay, firstly I agree with Peters on his point that Dewey’s political democracy reveals his idea of education as a public good suggested in the newly discovered Dewey’s Lectures, and I highlight Dewey’s idea of relationship between political democracy and education. Secondly, for Peters’ puzzle about Dewey’s lack of discussion in this lecture concerning the students’ action in the May 4th Movement, I present Dewey’s such kind of discussion from another lecture series given at Beijing. Finally, with the notion of “narrative learning”, I echo Peters’ comment regarding Deweyan mode of thinking as the only way of understanding about thinking.

Download Full-text

Where Now? Current Observations, Future Directions

Urban Affairs Review ◽

10.1177/1078087419867163 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 56 (3) ◽

pp. 994-1007

Author(s):

Barbara Ferman

Keyword(s):

Public Good ◽

Large Scale ◽

Gun Violence ◽

Student Movement ◽

Coalition Building ◽

Future Directions ◽

Teacher Strikes ◽

Final Article

In this final article, I sum up the major comments, respond to the questions, and address the critiques of the contributing authors. I also examine some key developments that occurred after the publication of the book, particularly the rash of teacher strikes in red states and the nationwide student movement against gun violence. What might these events portend for large-scale coalition building to preserve education as a public good?

Download Full-text

Staunchly Modern, Nonbourgeois Liberalism

The Making of Modern Liberalism ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691148403.003.0024 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Alan Ryan

Keyword(s):

Seventeenth Century ◽

World War I ◽

Industrial Revolution ◽

Modern Society ◽

Political Democracy ◽

World War ◽

Political Activist ◽

Democracy And Education ◽

Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽

The Impact

This chapter examines John Dewey's liberalism, arguing that his social and political theory expressed the self-understanding of modern society—“modern” being no more precise in its denotation than “postmodernist,” but certainly meaning at different times both the society that lived off and built on the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century and the society that came into existence with the capitalist Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. After expounding on Dewey's views on the demands of modernity, the chapter considers his belief in the need for industrial democracy as a complement to political democracy. It also discusses postmodernist bourgeois liberalism, Dewey's views on idealism and naturalism, his Democracy and Education and its references to freedom and equality, and the impact of World War I on Dewey's poise. Finally, it describes Dewey's non-Marxian radicalism and argues that Dewey was a philosopher rather than a political activist.

Download Full-text