Abstract

This thesis presents a unified reading of the social, political and educational thought of Rousseau, Hegel and Dewey by means of the concept of fragmentation. By the term "fragmentation" is understood the process of progressive disintegration of the ties that once united man and his community, as well as the complementary dissolution of man's psychological unity. This thesis interprets the social, political and educational thought of Rousseau, Hegel and Dewey as three kindred philosophical responses to the effects of fragmentation in three different stages of development of modern society. ;What these responses have in common is that all of them are based on a fundamentally similar communitarian view of man and society. All of them also tried to harmonize this view with their liberal acceptance of the social and economic principles of capitalism. It is the crux of this thesis that the tensions which affect the social, political and educational philosophies of Rousseau, Hegel and Dewey are the result of their failure to work out consistent communitarian solutions to the problems of modern capitalist-liberal society