ABSTRACT
Besides articulating a concept of public knowledge and emphasizing the importance of the public sphere, John Dewey anticipated Habermas's theory of communicative action. Although the emphasis on public knowledge as intrinsic to the historical dynamic is laudable, the sort of analysis is really a two-edged sword. Dewey's argument for democracy founders on his inability to articulate a democratic ideal that can be immanently related to a political strategy for redistributing power and resources—or to instantiating public knowledge along democratic lines. The work of William James and Dewey bears exploration and close scrutiny because their interpretations of pragmatic philosophy have had the most far-reaching effects on American educational theory and practice—intended or otherwise. Although putatively founded on the concept of democratically conceived and enacted public knowledge, pragmatism tends to further a limited, privileged, and ultimately potentially oppressive set of social and political ideals.
