Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education

Aristotle (384-322 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher. He is viewed as one of the most important thinkers in the Western intellectual tradition. A student of Plato and a teacher to Alexander the Great, Aristotle was also the key philosopher to shape Medieval Scholasticism.

Aristotle relocated to Athens from Stagira, Greece. In Athens, he studied at Plato’s Academy. Later, he launched his own institution, the Lyceum, and offered philosophy and related fields. Throughout his life, Aristotle focused on a variety of fields beyond philosophy, including ethics, science, logic, metaphysics, aesthetics, and political theory. Aristotle’s works include Politics and Nicomachean Ethics. It should be noted that some of his works are incomplete lecture notes.

Aristotle serves as a focal point in Democracy and Education because Dewey examines the impact of ancient Greek thought on the development of pedagogy.

Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852) was a German pedagogue and an education reformer. He also came to be known as the father of the kindergarten.

Froebel attended the University of Göttingen but the Napoleonic Wars halted his studies. Prior to his studies, he taught at a progressive school in Frankfurt. The latter experience sparked his interest in pedagogy.

He launched a school in Thuringia using his own ideas about education. Froebel also instructed teachers in Switzerland. He used his practical experience to eventually launch what came to be known as the kindergarten—a place of care and activities for young children.

Froebel also penned texts about pedagogy, such as The Education of Man and Concerning the General German Educational Institution in Keilhau. His educational theories and his impact on reforming this field are the reasons for Dewey’s focus in this book.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1830) was a philosopher of German idealism, a systemic thinker, and one of the key intellectuals in the history of Western philosophical tradition.

Hegel’s best-known ideas included the dialectical triad (thesis, antithesis, synthesis) which led to the next stage of development each time the opposites combined. This dialectic was the source of progress in history. It also influenced subsequent intellectuals such as Karl Marx. Hegel examined several other philosophical questions, such as the nature of the state, God, the Absolute, and the philosophy of identity (sameness).

In his youth, Hegel studied theology, philosophy, and the classics. At first, he was influenced both by Christian theology and by Immanuel Kant. Gradually, he developed his own trajectory. Hegel worked as a lecturer and an academic at Jena, Heidelberg, and Nuremberg. In 1818, he became chair of philosophy at the University of Berlin. The king of Prussia positively noted his work.

Hegel’s early theological works include Life of Jesus. His later key texts are The Philosophy of Right, The Science of Logic, Lectures on Aesthetics, The Phenomenology of Spirit, and The Philosophy of History.

Johan Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841) was a German thinker known as the father of pedagogy. He specialized in psychology and philosophy. Herbart lived at the same time as Hegel, yet his work is rather different from the latter.

Herbart received his education under the German philosopher Fichte. Subsequently, he held a number of academic posts. Most notably, he taught at the University of Göttingen and in Konigsberg where he replaced Immanuel Kant. As a philosopher, Herbart focused on such inquiries as the philosophy of mind. Using his training, he eventually developed pedagogical theories within psychology.

Herbart wrote several works, including Letters and Lectures on Education, Textbook in Psychology, and The Science of Education: Its General Principles Deduced from Its Aim and the Aesthetic Revelation of the World, and Application of Psychology to the Science of Education. Herbart is relevant to Dewey because of his contribution to the early development of educational theory.

John Locke (1632–1704) was an English philosopher and one of the first empiricists from his country. His works predated but influenced the Enlightenment-ear philosophes. Some consider Locke an early example of a classical Liberal.

Locke was a member of the British Royal Society and worked as a medical doctor. For example, he served Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, while pursuing his medical education in London. The thinker lived and worked both in Britain and in the Netherlands. He fled England due to political issues.

Locke authored several works in which he examined key philosophical questions such as the social contract. His texts include Some Thoughts Concerning Education, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, A Letter Concerning Toleration, Two Treatises of Government, and Of the Conduct of the Understanding.

In this book, Dewey links Lockean empiricism and focus on the physical world with the notion of training in education.

Plato (429- 347 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher, systemic thinker, and Aristotle’s teacher. Plato is considered one of the most important intellectuals in the history of Western philosophical tradition. Specialists consider Plato to be the father of political philosophy.

Plato came from an upper-class Athenian family which allowed him to focus on philosophical studies with Socrates. Eventually, Plato established his own institution, the Academy, in Athens in 387 BCE. He produced several well-known concepts such as the theory of forms or ideas. In this theory, the forms, which exist outside space and time, are perfect, whereas their counterparts in the physical world are imperfect and subject to corrupting change.

Plato’s works are written as dialogues between people, and Socrates is sometimes a key character. Plato’s best-known texts include Republic, Timaeus, Statesman, and Symposium. Dewey examines Plato’s work to understand the way it impacted the realm of education for millennia to come.