Influences on The Major Theorists

John Dewey (1859-1952)

John Dewey was born in 1859 in the town of Burlington, Vermont to Lucinda Rich Dewey and Archibald Sprague Dewey. John was one of three sons to grow up in the middle-class Dewey household. Archibald supported the family as a grocer and later owner of cigar and tobacco shop.

John Dewey chose to stay in Vermont for his college education, and received his B.A. from the University of Vermont in 1879. He spent two years teaching high school and returned to school in 1882 to pursue graduate studies at John Hopkins University. He received his doctorate in philosophy in 1884. After four years as an instructor at the University of Michigan, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. Dewey remained in Minnesota for only a year, and returned to be a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan. Dewey remained at Michigan until 1894 when he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. The University of Chicago was a mere four years old when Dewey joined its ranks. He was responsible for adding several faculty members to the Philosophy Department, including James H. Tufts, James R. Angell, and George Herbert Mead. In the midst of his burgeoning career, Dewey married one of his students in 1886 (Harriet Alice Chipman) and fathered four sons (one adopted) and three daughters, and ultimately lost one of his sons to diphtheria and another to typhoid fever.

The University of Chicago's philosophy department focused on the desire to merge philosophy, psychology, and the study of pedagogy. Dewey argued that pedagogy should be a separate department and was hence appointed to head the Department of Education (first known as the Department of Pedagogy) in addition to the Department of Philosophy. In the late 1890's, Dewey moved towards a philosophical stance later known as pragmatism. In education, his influence was a leading factor in the eradication of authoritarian methods and placing emphasis upon learning through experimentation and practice. Dewey also actively participated in movements to forward social welfare and women's suffrage.

In 1904, after some discontent in the Department of Education at Chicago, Dewey resigned and was offered a professorship at Columbia University. He remained there until his retirement in 1930. Dewey died at home in New York City on June 1, 1952 after breaking his hip the previous year.

Some of His Major Works:
Psychology (1887)
The School and Society (1899; rev. ed. 1915)
Ethics (with James Tufts, 1908)
Democracy and Education (1916)
Reconstruction in Philosophy (1920)
Human Nature and Conduct (1922)
Experience and Nature (1925)
The Public and Its Problems (1927)
The Quest for Certainty (1929)
Philosophy and Civilization (1932)
A Common Faith (1934)
Art as Experience (1934)
Liberalism and Social Action (1935)
Experience and Education (1938)
Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (1938)
Freedom and Culture (1939)
Problems of Men (1946)

Information for this biography gathered from:
www.bartleby.com - excerpt from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001.

For detailed timeline: A Mead Project Website at Brock University
http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~lward/dewey/timeline.html
Bowling Green State University's American Culture Studies website:
www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/dewey/dewey.html