![]() ![]() All of which he seemed to respond to by strengthening his belief in a democratic ideal. Other professors resigned, at least one of whom ended up at the New School, co-founded by Dewey as a free institution of higher learning that would be open to members of any class and not require political “loyalty.” Dewey died in 1952, two years into US Senator Joseph McCarthy’s fear-mongering trials.Īll of which is to say that the events taking place during Dewey’s lifetime were characterized by massive upheavals around racial, gender-based, and economic oppression the expansion of laissez-faire economics overly prescriptive or near non-existent education that was failing large portions of the population political turnmoil and ongoing wars. In fact, in 1917 Columbia University began firing professors who refused to comply with a resolution from the Board of Trustees demanding “unqualified loyalty to the Government of the United States” from all students and faculty. ![]() It was from New York City that he watched both World Wars change the country even more, along with the fight for women’s suffrage and the red scares that kept arising throughout the first half of the 20th century in the US. But as the 20th century dawned, Dewey moved to Columbia University, where he stayed until 1930. Just as the engines of the industrial boom were cranking up to the furious pace that funded the Gilded Age robber barons and helped drive new waves of immigration to the US, Dewey was moving into faculty positions at the University of Michigan and then Chicago. But here I want to talk about one of his lesser-known works, Art as Experience, which brings together some of his larger political and philosophic ideas in a discussion of aesthetics and culture, and their role in a robust society. For those to whom his name is very familiar, he is said to be one of the most, if not the most, influential American philosophers. And some might be aware of him as a thinker who, in some ways, was discussing post-modern ideas about a hundred years before post-modernism. Others might recognize the name because of his most well-known work, as an early theorist and proponent of progressive education for students of all ages. Those who attended New York City’s New School might know of him as a co-founder and one of the minds behind the progressive agenda that formed the intellectual and social foundation of the school’s early years. It’s hard to tell how many young Americans know the name John Dewey today. John Dewey (from the New York Public LIbrary Digital Gallery) ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |