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John Dewey, (born October 20, 1859, Burlington, Vermont, U.S.—died June 1, 1952, New York, New York)
American philosopher and educator who was a cofounder of the philosophical movement known as pragmatism, a pioneer in functional psychology, an innovative theorist of democracy, and a leader of the progressive movement in education in the United States. -
University of Vermont in Burlington
John Dewey while at the University of Vermont was exposed to evolutionary theory through the teaching of G.H. Perkins and Lessons in Elementary Physiology, a text by T.H. Huxley, the famous English evolutionist. The theory of natural selection continued to have a life-long impact upon Dewey’s thought, suggesting the barrenness of static models of nature, and the importance of focusing on the interaction between the human organism and its environment when considering questions of psychology. -
“The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology”
Dewey’s first significant application of this new naturalistic understanding was in this article. He argued that the dominant conception of the reflex arc in the psychology of his day, which was thought to begin with the passive stimulation of the organism, causing a conscious act of awareness in a response, was a carry-over of mind-body dualism. Dewey argued for an alternative view: the organism interacts with the world through self-guided activity that coordinate with sensory/motor responses. -
Pragmatism
John Dewey was a leading proponent of the American school of thought known as pragmatism, a view that rejected the dualistic epistemology and metaphysics of modern philosophy in favor of a naturalistic approach that viewed knowledge as arising from an active adaptation of the human organism to its environment. Dewey developed a broad body of work encompassing virtually all of the main areas of philosophical concern in his day.