Dewey in 90 Minutes

Philosophers in 90 Minutes

by Paul Strathern

"Each of these little books is witty and dramatic and creates a sense of time, place, and character....I cannot think of a better way to introduce oneself and one's friends to Western civilization."―Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe . "Well-written, clear and informed, they have a breezy wit about them....I find them hard to stop reading."―Richard Bernstein, New York Times . "Witty, illuminating, and blessedly concise."―Jim Holt, Wall Street Journal . These brief and enlightening explorations of our greatest thinkers bring their ideas to life in entertaining and accessible fashion. Philosophical thought is deciphered and made comprehensible and interesting to almost everyone. Far from being a novelty, each book is a highly refined appraisal of the philosopher and his work, authoritative and clearly presented.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Biography

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2002

About the author

Paul Strathern (born 1940) is a English writer and academic. He was born in London, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he served in the Merchant Navy over a period of two years. He then lived on a Greek island. In 1966 he travelled overland to India and the Himalayas. His novel A Season in Abyssinia won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1972.

Besides five novels, he has also written numerous books on science, philosophy, history, literature, medicine and economics.

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best of the series by any means.

"No mechanically exact science of an individual is possible. An individual is a history unique in character."--John Dewey

From the author summarizing Dewey's philosophy of education: "The teacher should encourage the child to embark upon this journey of inquiry with enthusiasm. In childhood we are confronted with a world we do not understand. Education should lead us through the psychological process of coming to terms with this world. . . . The teacher should understand this psychological situation of the children, helping them to overcome the doubt and uncertainty induced by their initial experience of the strange and inexplicable aspects of the world. In order to do this, teachers must gain the trust of their children. They should not command their pupils but interact with them. The traditional approach of discipline and rote learning only stifled the child's need to inquire. The teacher should be regarded as a fellow traveler along the road to knowledge: a guide, rather than a taskmaster. . . . " (This was my attitude when I taught high school philosophy.)

Dewey saw science as the dominating form of knowledge. As do I. He wanted to see things as they were. One of the problems today is that science has gone beyond the grasp of most citizens, leaving them to find solace with falsity.

"Character is the interpenetration of habits."--John Dewey

[Nativeabuse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is really hit or miss, but I felt like this one taught me a lot about what dewey was all about. Good little intro to his ideas.

[Bells · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't recommend any of these

[#DÏ4B7Ø Chinnamasta-Bhairav · Rating 5 out of 5]

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To SEE a WORLD in a Grain of Sand,
And a HEAVEN in a Wild Flower,
Hold INFINITY in the palm of your hand
And ETERNITY in an Hour"
~ William Blake ~

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“Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. And between the two my life flows.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

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Form is Emptiness; Emptiness is form.
Form is not different than Emptiness;
Emptiness is not different than form
~ Heart Sutra ~

Like the ocean and its waves,
inseparable yet distinct

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" I and The Father are one,
I am The Truth,
The Life and The Path.”

Like a river flowing from its source,
connected and continuous

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Thy kingdom come.
Let the reign of divine
Truth, Life, and Love
be established in me,
and rule out of me all sin;
and may Thy Word
enrich the affections of all mankind

A mighty oak tree standing firm against the storm,
As sunlight scatters the shadows of night
A river nourishing the land it flows through

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[Lee Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have heard Dewey's name floating around a lot: Ben Sasse and conservatives hate him for education, but others seem to really like him. I became a little more interested when I talked to Rob Kass about "instrumentalism", which I guess is the same concept as "pragmatism", which Kass said was a philosophical underpinning to his proposed "Statistical Pragmatism".

The book wasn't a crystal clear introduction to "instumentalism", but the gist is that the world should be viewed functionally, and nothing is "true" in and of itself, removed from context. The truth should be viewed in how well the thing should be used in order to solve a practical question of interest. There were several counters to this in the book, most ardently by Bertrand Russell. For example, he stated historians looked to record historical facts, not use them for practical purposes. Dewey had no real response here. A modern version of this debate is being played out by Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson, especially on the "What is True" podcast.

All in all, I didn't really understand what made Dewey so famous, other than that he popularized Pragmatism. It did feel like Charles Peirce, not Dewey, was the more unique thinker. But everyone needs a cheerleader. Interestingly, Peirce was mentioned a lot in Ian Hacking's book: The taming of chance, and his idea of abductive reasoning has started coming back into modern conciousness.

So does instumentalism work with statistics? For data analysis, in the client relationship, I think so. If you think about these situations, the *best* analysis are always grounded in an externally defined goal. For example, we want to "put soccer players in groups", "estimate the number of Trump voters", or "predict internet traffic based on an add". In each case, the analysts want to execute statistical methods on the data, in order to serve an externally defined goal. The best statistical methods *work* in reaching this goal. So, we would say that statistics doesn't exist until there's a dataset, and something someone wants to do with the dataset. One question: is it consistent to believe in statistical pragmatism, and not pragmatism more broadly?

[Theo Milos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dewey saw the importance of liberalism. "How can we be free in a logically necessary world?".

"Thought is not general, it is specific". Science must meet philosophical skepticism. Dewey founded pragmatism or industrialism made him unique in comparison to his fellow philosophers in Europe. He became a significant philosopher in the USA during his time, but not really in the world or in history.

Education is not simply of just learning. It should be built on experience and a process of enlightenment. The teacher shall rather be a friend gaining trust by interacting with the pupils than a leader. Teachers should be regarded as fellow men as a part of the journey, like a guide more than a commander or a taskmaster. The traditional way of discipline and route-learning only stifles the child's need to inquire.

He hated communism, which was not popular by the politicians on the left side. Dewey meant that ideology always leads and will always lead to dictatorship. The philosopher had a long dispute with Trotsky.

[John Reis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick easy read. It is not as amusing or sarcastic as his book on Hegel. He genuinely respects Dewey. He spends most of his time discussing Dewey’s views on science (really, biology) and knowledge and truth. He offers up Russell’s criticism of pragmatic truth, otherwise, he is gentle. He spends only about one page on Dewey’s thoughts on education. He lays the blame for some of the criticisms of Dewey’s education theory at the feet of zealous Dewey followers.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Explains Dewey’s biography as well as the pragmatic approach to educational experience
Very interesting and well written
Brief but concise

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focuses more on his philosophical works than other books in this series which is nice

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be an interesting read. I'm not all that familiar with philosophy, but I'd heard of Dewey through some of my training before my teacher training (though I no longer train as a teacher!) and this book was short enough to keep me interested.
It gives a lot of information about Dewey's life, his influences and the ideas behind his philosophy. If I learned one thing from this it is that Dewey's main philosophy is pragmatic (though he doesn't like that term himself) and his theories involve real life application. Which is why his education theories are so good - he believes students need to have real world application and practical skills when studying.

I think this is a great introduction. There are some technical terms used, and lots of science-talk too, so not a absoltely perfect introduction for complete beginners, but I managed, so it is worth a read.
It wasn't that expensive either - only 99p. That said, it works out at 1p per page, so maybe it isn't that great a deal after all.

[Sameer Alshenawi]

Just a boring on Dewey ..I don't like it at all.

[Jay Beasley · Rating 5 out of 5]

why, i feel smarter already!