ABSTRACT
The development of democratic theory and practice in the English-speaking world has been a long and arduous process, as old as the British Constitution itself; but at present there is no definitive theory of democracy in the western world, only theories of democracy. The bifurcation in institutionalist thought between reform capitalism and socialism has direct relevance for understanding the evolving neoinstitutionalist theory of democracy. Some of the critics of neoinstrumentalism suggest that such statements are so vague as to be virtually meaningless and that, in any case, John Dewey’s views are compatible with almost any form of social and political organization. Extrapolating from Peirce and from the analysis provided by the democracy-science analog, Western institutions should be more productive of scientific achievement and progress than a less malleable and fluid institutional apparatus. Dewey’s writings on the theory and practice of education contain a detailed exposition of his ideas on human growth and development in a democracy.
