Font Size: a A A

Dewey: As A Way Of Life Of Democracy,

Posted on:2011-03-18Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:G Y ZhengFull Text:PDF
GTID:1116360305997446Subject:Foreign philosophy
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Dewey's idea of democracy as a way of life is a significant change on political philosophy. Dewey's Democracy has its reliable philosophical basis. Dewey believes that traditional philosophy is far from life, ignores practical problems, so the general public do not trust it. Dewey points out that philosophy should be based on life, concerns for people and reality and gives some guidance for people to cope with living environment. This is the the new task of philosophy. only in this way can retain its vitality. To rebuild the new task of philosophy, the most important and basic concepts of philosophy must be re-interpretated. As experience and life are inseparable, but it is misunderstood for a long time,the re-interpretation of the concepts of experience and empirical method becomes necessary. Dewey believes that the binary position of experience distinct from nature in traditional philosophy leads to philosophy contempts for the experience, away from life in the end. For Dewey, experience and natural are inseparable and is synonymous to life and history. Exempirical method is not a passive one that people access to perceptual impression through sensory, but an action of interaction with the living environment. After that, Dewey begins to reconstruct philosophy and calls it experimentalism. Dewey's experimentalism contains the basic spirit of emphasizing the importance of the scientific method, attending to action and change and emphasising on practicality of concept. Dewey stresses that his experimental theory and experimentalist doctrine are just a way method of guiding people to actively cope with and transform the environment and they both serve for human to create a life with democracy as a way of life.After the philosophical foundation of Dewey's ideas about democracy is made clear, the next central question to explore is clearly of what democracy really means. Dewey discusses it from the meaning, principles and basis of democracy. Dewey believes that democracy mainly consists of two meanings:as a form of politics and as a way of life. The former means seeking the people's well-being, taking public opinion seriously and formulating political system to protect democracy. The latter means that, each of normal members in the society can freely participate in social life and the community can provide for individual full developing opportunities. The relationship between the two are interdependent and mutually supported. The former is the means by which the latter can be achieved, while the latter is the most reliable social security of the former. Dewey emphasizes the latter. Freedom, equality and fraternity consist of the three basic principles of democracy as a way of life. Freedom is not abstract, absolute, but rather specific, relative, and it is related to a particular social environment and can not be separated from constraints. Equal does not mean talent equality, but rather equal participating rights in the social life. fraternity means mutual understanding and mutual love between the national, seeking public interest. Democracy as a way of life is based on the trust of the variability of human nature, the intellectual capacity of the individual and the power of the concentrated cooperating experience of human beings.Democracy must be related to pecific individuals and communities and abstract democracy does not exist. Dewey criticizes traditional individualism strips specific social and cultural elements of a real individual, forming a kind of abstract, isolated and closed "atomic individual", who emphasizes too much on the importance of individual freedom and interests and ignores the importance of the public rights and common interests. Dewey injects the joint time characteristics in real life into the old personal values, attaches the importance on co-operation between the individual and others, coordination between the individual and the community and common interests and insists that the individual and society are interdependent and mutually inclusive. What kind of society can promote the comprehensive development of the individual? Dewey believes that this is his ideal communities of democracy as a way of life. people Living in this society understand each other, freely communicate, equally cooperate and everyone's ability has attained full and comprehensive development. To achieve such an ideal democratic community, the most important is to enhance communication between members of society. For the sake of effective communication, we must rely on education to raise the level and skills of public communication.Dewey believes that the level of public communication can be improved and facilitate the realization of the democratic way of life through education. The role of education training a citizen is reflected in the following aspects:training a citizen with scientific attitude and method; cultivating essential civic virtues——an open mind, a purpose, a sense of responsibility and a general habit of appreciation; training active, independent, and creative personality. Educational process is the most important part of integral education. In the process, teachers can no longer force students to learn by the means of so-called authority, but rather participate in the teaching process with the students. Teaching materials should be closely related with the living practice in a democratic society and the teaching methods should be "learning by doing"to foster democratic habits of the students. Democratization of the educational process is affected by whether there is a democratic management method. A democratic educational manager must first understand the functions of the school is not to maintain the status quo but to participate in social reform, being in a new relationship of mutual cooperation with the persons relared and setting up adult education for the public. Democratic management of teachers means to allow them to enjoy a certain degree of freedom and participation. Democratic management of students means to ensure students a considerable degree of freedom and one of the important management forms is to allow students self-government.Dewey also upholds and defends his democratic ideals with his actions, which makes his democratic idea has a very big impact both in the domestic and the international. Dewey's effort to defend democracy is so prominent in the two representive countries-the United States and the Soviet Union. In the United States it reflects in:ruthlessly exposing the hypocrisy of American democracy; attacking American capitalist on violating civil liberties and equal rights; running schools as to implement democratic principle of education. In the Soviet Union it reflects in: criticizing its educational mode is a kind of political propaganda by compulsory instillation; attacking its political system is coercive and unsafe; criticisizing its ideology blindly admires class struggle and violent revolution. The influence of Dewey's democratic idea on the United States mainly reflects in:the New Deal and other political reforms implemented by the U.S. government largely absorbed Dewey's idea on social control and social programs to resolve the social crisis; Dewey's idea of progressive social improvement insists practical and political changing course of the U.S., at the same time greatly strengthening he firm belief of the American people in this tradition; the democratic community highly recommended by Dewey evokes a lot of resonance. In other countries, the greatest impact by Dewey is China. Dewey is the spiritual mentor for the May 4th intellectuals who pursuing democratic ideals. Dewey's attitude of initial appreciation and later criticism to the Soviet Union guides to some extent American intellectuals to yearn and reject the Soviet Union. In addition, Dewey plays a role in promoting the development of democratic process in Japan, Turkey, Mexico and the other countries.
Keywords/Search Tags:democracy as a way of life, experience, freedom, equality, individual, Community, education
PDF Full Text Request
Related items