“ Back To the Future ” Philosophy of Education as an Instrument of Its Time

In this 2006 John Dewey Society Invited Address, I place Dewey in a larger philosophical and historical context. My hope is that by doing so we can learn more about the future prospects for the role of philosophy of education. I see Dewey as one of those rare canonical philosophers whose reputation as a philosopher is intricately tied to their writings on education and I want to explore why this tie makes sense with some canonical figures, such as Plato and Rousseau, but not with others, such as Aristotle, Locke, Whitehead, and Russell, who have also contributed to our understanding of education. It is an honor to present the Dewey lecture this year. As some of you know I have been occupied with the contribution of Dewey on and off for much of my professional career, and I want then to take the occasion of this talk to place Dewey in a larger philosophical and historical context. My hope is that by doing so we can learn more about the future prospects for the role of philosophy of education. I see Dewey as one of those rare canonical philosophers whose reputation as a philosopher is intricately tied to their writings on education and I want to explore why this tie makes sense with some canonical figures but not with others who have also contributed to our understanding of education. Consider, for example, the difference between Plato and Aristotle. Certainly Aristotle’s contribution to our conception of a liberal education has been profound. And it is not as if the appropriation of Aristotle for the purposes of education is over, as witnessed by Randy Curren’s productive mining of Aristotle for our own