ABSTRACT
John Dewey was a key figure in that distinctly American school of philosophy known as pragmatism. Pragmatism was a part of this project, as was progressive education, and he was one of its primary educational architects. Pragmatism was also a response to changes in the concept of science from certainty to probability and the development of statistical methods. In 1909, Dewey addressed the profound influence of Darwin on human thought. In contrast, he promoted social cooperation as the main source of species development. Much influenced by Jane Addams and his own wife Alice, Dewey found classical capitalism and the social Darwinism that supported it an uncreative and destructive force in so far as the social good was concerned. American Pragmatism began as response to rapid changes in American society in the post-Civil War period, emphasizing science, especially the new field of statistics, and deemphasizing traditional religion and metaphysics.
