ABSTRACT

Larry A. Hickman approaches the question of contemporary lessons from Dewey's 1916 masterpiece Democracy and Education from the angle of technical philosophy as related to educational practice. First, he identifies and explores four major traits of Dewey's unique version of pragmatism – namely experimentalism, functionalism, instrumentalism, and geneticism – and interprets them as core component s of his technical philosophy. Hickman gives an illuminating introduction into how these traits of Dewey's comprehensive philosophical outlook relate to his pedagogy. He then goes on to consider several examples of the current educational situation in the light of Dewey's educational project as well as his wider philosophy.