John Dewey was not a philosopher of education in the now-traditional sense of a doctor of philosophy who examines educational ends, means, and controversies through the disciplinary lenses of epistemology, ethics, and political theory, or of agenda-driven schools such as existentialism, feminism, and critical theory. Rather, Dewey was both an educator and a philosopher, and he saw in each discipline reconstructive possibilities for the other, famously characterizing "philosophy . . . as the general theory of education" (1985, p. 338). Dewey (...) wanted each discipline to overcome its tendency to alienate knowledge and theory from experience and reconstruct itself as an enterprise aimed at personal and collective .. (shrink)

This book explores the writings of philosopher and educator John Dewey in order to develop an expansive vision of aesthetic education and everyday poetics of living. Robert Pirsig's best-selling book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, provides concrete examples of this compelling yet unconventional vision.

Due to its considerable length, this article is being published in two parts. This first part briefly discusses the intriguing relationship between John Dewey and Albert Barnes, as well as the circumstances behind the creation of the Barnes Foundation and its innovative art-education programs. This is followed by examination of the prominent roles of aesthetic formalism and organic unity in Barnes's writings about the arts and their less technical, more contextual positioning in Dewey's aesthetics. To end Part 1 of the (...) article, a similar dynamic is revealed in Barnes's and Dewey's ultimately disparate understandings of the relationship between form and content in the arts.In its heyday during the first part of the... (shrink)

This article discusses what David Berliner (2005) has called the perverse ?spectacle of fear? (208) surrounding issues of teacher quality and accountability in contemporary school reform. Drawing principally on the critical semiotics of Roland Barthes' essay, ?The World of Wrestling? (1957), it examines the way that this spectacle works to undermine public education and explicates the powerful mythology behind it. The article then concludes with some suggestions on how this destructive ?spectacle of fear? might potentially be disrupted using the agencies (...) of Deweyan ?strong democracy? (shrink)

Due to its considerable length, this article has been published in two parts. Part 1, which appeared in the previous issue of the journal, discussed the intriguing relationship between John Dewey and Albert Barnes, as well as the circumstances behind the creation of the Barnes Foundation and its art education programs. Following this, it established both areas of convergence and divergence in Barnes’s and Dewey’s understandings of aesthetic formalism, organic unity, and form and content in the arts. Part 2 now (...) builds on these findings to explore important differences in their respective treatments of the significant sociocultural context of art. After returning briefly to the question of aesthetic formalism in... (shrink)

The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once remarked that "The human body is the best picture of the human soul."1 There is a basic truth in this assertion that we recognize (I want to say) intuitively: the notion that human beings are parts both mental and physical, that these facets are ultimately interdependent, and that they are in some measure correlated was a commonplace in the intellectual culture of ancient Athens, especially among Socratic thinkers. It can also be found as a central (...) part of the basic ontology and ideals of self-cultivation espoused in much East Asian philosophy. In the West, however, this deep appreciation for the relationship between mind and body appears somewhat sporadically after the .. (shrink)

Welcome, readers, to the latest edition of Education & Culture. It's prime leaf peeping time here in upstate New York, as I gaze at the beautiful fall foliage framed so picturesquely by my office window. Much like John Dewey, I feel fortunate indeed to live in this part of the country during what has long been my favorite season. Let's hope that it brings with it the advent of a return to something resembling democratic sentiment and human decency in politics (...) and public affairs.Our fall 2018 issue opens with a thoughtful and heartfelt commentary on the proliferation of gun violence in the US precipitated by recent events, in addition to four articles exploring the possibilities and limits of Deweyan progressivism... (shrink)

Greetings and welcome to the latest issue of Education & Culture. Before highlighting the articles featured in this issue, I would like to report briefly on the history and usage of the Open Access feature at Education & Culture. As you might recall, the journal moved to Open Access in 2013, making issues three years and older available through Purdue e-Pubs, the online publishing platform of Purdue University Press. This archive is accessible through the dropdown menu on the Education & (...) Culture page of the PUP website and extends all the way back to volume one from 1976. Almost since the day this feature was first enabled, it saw a great deal of activity, with... (shrink)

Welcome, one and all, to volume 32, issue 2 of Education & Culture. I originally began assembling this issue without a specific theme in mind. Nonetheless, as you can see from the title of my remarks, one soon began to emerge. More than a few scholars have commented on an apparent shift in Dewey’s later writings that provided a counterbalance to his ardent attention to science in his early- and middle-period works—a so-called aesthetic turn. It seems to me that this (...) move loosely parallels current initiatives in education calling for a broadening of popular curriculum focused on the STEM fields to something like STEAM, which looks to add the arts, in various forms, to... (shrink)

It was my great pleasure to take over for A. G. Rud this past summer as editor of Education and Culture. As you are well aware, A. G. did an exceptional job during his distinguished tenure as editor, enhancing the profile and overall quality of the journal in numerous ways. In his first editor's note after moving the journal to Purdue University Press (volume 20, issue 2), A. G. wrote of his interest in "seeking out scholars who are examining not (...) only Dewey himself, but his influence upon his contemporaries, and his enduring legacy." He then added that he was also "keenly interested in exploring how the new technologies may be used in the journal." It's clear to everyone, I'm sure, that A. G.'s efforts in these .. (shrink)

Greetings, readers, and welcome to the spring 2019 issue of Education & Culture. This latest edition of the journal features four articles and two book reviews, and it should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with recent scholarship on Dewey that all of the contributors speak in some way to contemporary issues and problems related to the prospects for democracy and/in diversity.We begin with Kathy Hytten's "Cultivating Democratic Hope in Dark Times: Strategies for Action." In her contribution, Hytten explores (...) the necessity for a democratic conception of hope that might help us more effectively counter the many social, political, and educational challenges we face today. In doing so, she appeals to... (shrink)

Greetings, readers, and welcome to the spring 2019 issue of Education & Culture. This latest edition of the journal features four articles and two book reviews, and it should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with recent scholarship on Dewey that all of the contributors speak in some way to contemporary issues and problems related to the prospects for democracy and/in diversity.We begin with Kathy Hytten's "Cultivating Democratic Hope in Dark Times: Strategies for Action." In her contribution, Hytten explores (...) the necessity for a democratic conception of hope that might help us more effectively counter the many social, political, and educational challenges we face today. In doing so, she appeals to... (shrink)

Welcome, readers, to the latest issue of Education & Culture. This exciting edition brings us five articles and three book reviews ranging across topics including educational reform, academic freedom, teacher education, political theory, Deweyan pedagogy and aesthetics, and, a topic not often addressed by Deweyans, the practice of inclusion in today’s classrooms.Continuing a pattern of late, we open with a piece first presented as the Dewey Lecture at AERA in 2014. Diane Ravitch’s “Does Evidence Matter?” takes a direct and largely (...) critical look at educational reform over the last several decades, highlighting No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, but.. (shrink)

I am pleased to offer for your insight and edification the latest issue of Education & Culture. Though this edition is a bit shorter than readers will have come to expect, it does feature a dynamic duo of recent John Dewey Lectures as well as two original contributions looking at Dewey's innovative perspective on the nature of human experience and its continued relevance for both democratic living and sense-making in the classroom.The issue begins with Ellen Lagemann's 2016 Dewey Lecture entitled (...) "The Continuing Challenge of Progressive Thought: Lessons from a College in Prison." Taking on what seems to be one of the most intractable problems of our day, Lagemann briefly sketches the crisis of incarceration and... (shrink)

Greetings, readers! Spring is finally here and that means it’s time for a new issue of Education & Culture. This latest edition of the journal features several articles that use Dewey’s social and political philosophy to illuminate the myriad ways in which forces beyond the school and classroom continue to create major challenges for an education that might prepare students for democratic life in our increasingly complex twenty-first century world. The task before us is a challenging one, indeed. However, the (...) contributions of our latest authors might help us to forge a fruitful path through the many perils and possibilities that lie ahead.We begin with Atli Harðarson’s “The School as a Democratic Workplace: The... (shrink)

"What would Dewey say?" I seem to hear this question posed at least once at virtually every academic conference I attend. Following the typical pattern, the speaker goes on to submit for consideration whatever he thinks Dewey would say about the issue at hand. So why is this question so common? On some occasions, the speaker is addressing a subject—perhaps something contemporary—about which Dewey never spoke, at least not directly. Or, perhaps, he is responding to Dewey's tendency to work at (...) a high level of abstraction, offering topographical maps of some critical portion of the lived world while leaving the map reader to determine the relevant connections to contexts that are more local and concrete in nature. .. (shrink)

Welcome readers!As you have no doubt noted, Education & Culture has an all new cover design and formatting thanks to our good friends at PUP. I hope folks like it. I think we can at least be sure that Dewey would approve of the color!But that is not all that is new. There are some other important changes readers should know about concerning access to the journal. Following current practice, Dewey Society members will continue to receive the journal in hard (...) copy, with the most recent three years still available online through Project Muse. However, a new archive has been established to make issues older than three years available Open Access through Purdue e-Pubs, the online publishing platform of Purdue .. (shrink)

The world of John Dewey scholarship recently lost one of its most thoughtful contributors, and teachers of all kinds lost one of their most passionate and committed advocates. Philip W. Jackson was born in 1928 in Vineland, New Jersey, a locale known historically for its excellent grape-growing soil and veterinarian Arthur Goldhaft’s famous pledge to “put a chicken in every pot.” Jackson’s adoptive parents were, appropriately enough, chicken farmers, and, as the story goes, they noticed early on his indisputable knack (...) for singing and poetry recitation. Feeling very at home on the stage, the plucky six-year-old even tried his hand as a vaudevillian, performing a snake charmer act between reels at.. (shrink)

This carefully-researched book offers a dynamic and expansive Deweyan vision for the arts and education. This (re)vision acknowledges the influence on Dewey's aesthetics of art collector and educator Albert Barnes, while also exploring the various ways Dewey's writings on the arts, in moving beyond Barnes' "scientific aesthetic method," were an important resource for many innovative twentieth-century American artists, art movements, and arts-related educational institutions. Neither Barnes' influence on Dewey nor the features of Dewey's naturalistic aesthetics that made his Art as (...) Experience a favorite text of many artists and arts practitioners have been fully and adequately acknowledged in existing literature on Dewey's thinking about the arts and education. This book effectively remedies that situation. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Somaesthetics and Racism:Toward an Embodied Pedagogy of DifferenceDavid A. Granger (bio)IntroductionThe philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once remarked that "The human body is the best picture of the human soul."1 There is a basic truth in this assertion that we recognize (I want to say) intuitively: the notion that human beings are parts both mental and physical, that these facets are ultimately interdependent, and that they are in some measure correlated (...) was a commonplace in the intellectual culture of ancient Athens, especially among Socratic thinkers. It can also be found as a central part of the basic ontology and ideals of self-cultivation espoused in much East Asian philosophy. In the West, however, this deep appreciation for the relationship between mind and body appears somewhat sporadically after the Socratics, only to be fervently reasserted as a main plank in the lived philosophy of the early American pragmatists, as when Henry David Thoreau proclaimed that "We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones. Any nobleness begins to refine a mean's features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them."2I use the word "sporadically" above because it is likewise a basic truism that canonical Western philosophy has a long and storied history of rejecting, ignoring, or degrading the human body—that most formative part of our being and connection to the world and to others. The position of the later, more metaphysical Plato is iconic in this regard, and it effectively set the tone for much Christian theology and the Cartesian philosophy of consciousness. For Plato and his adherents, the longing to escape our embodiedness, conceived as a necessary means to human (or perhaps superhuman) perfection [End Page 69] by achieving a godlike existence, requires effectively divorcing ourselves from the irrational brutes of terra firma. The body is conceived as a static constraint to human flourishing rather than a dynamic enabler. It is more or less an adversary, something that we must endeavor to be freed from or subdue.3 Its base senses and unruly passions deceive us epistemologically, while its inexorable power to situate us in space and time limits our objectivity. In its inevitable pains and infirmities, the body is also a constant reminder of the aging process and of our ultimate mortality. Deeming the body as at best a mere servant of the mind, philosophers typically have portrayed it as a veritable prison of deception, temptation, and suffering. Moreover, it is well-established that such thinking has been particularly pernicious in light of the historical identification of women and other marginalized groups with their variously enfeebled, depraved, or uncivilized bodies.4Against this disquieting backdrop, it is only relatively recently that the human body, and the significance of our existence as embodied beings, has received sustained positive attention by leading lights in Western philosophy and criticism. These luminaries include, among others, "feminist" thinkers like Simone de Beauvoir, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray and, of late, Susan Bordo and Judith Butler (with a nod to Michel Foucault, Pierre Bordeau, and others); pragmatists William James and John Dewey (with a nod to Emerson and Thoreau); phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty (with a nod to Jean-Paul Sartre); analytic philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (with a nod to James); and postmodernist Michel Foucault (with a nod to Friedrich Nietzsche, George Bataille, and the ancient Asian ars erotica tradition5). While these thinkers do not universally praise the body and its active, conscious cultivation for human flourishing (about which more later), they nonetheless acknowledge its necessity for all perception, action, and even thought.6 In short, they all seek to recognize and elucidate the significance—cognitive and affective, discursive and nondiscursive—of our full embodied intelligence.Looking specifically at the architectonics of the body espoused by the trio of Dewey, Foucault, and Wittgenstein, this article uses what philosopher Richard Shusterman terms "analytic somaesthetics" to examine some of the primary embodied dimensions of feeling, perception, action, and thought, particularly through the functioning of habit.7 In doing so, it seeks to expose the way various ideologies of domination (for example, racism, sexism, classism, ableism, heterosexism, ageism, etc.) are covertly (and at times overtly) materialized... (shrink)

This symposium provides five case studies of the ways that John Dewey's philosophy and practice were influenced by women or "weirdoes" (our choices include F. M. Alexander, Albert Barnes, Helen Bradford Thompson, Elsie Ripley Clapp, and Jane Addams) and presents some conclusions about the value of dialoging across difference for philosophers and other scholars.