| Five central claims guide this dissertation. The first is that John Dewey's philosophy of education can best be understood as a response to the diremption instantiated in Modernity's image of the self. Secondly, the practical implications of Donald Davidson's work in the philosophy of mind and philosophy of language deepen and extend in important ways John Dewey's philosophy of education; and to this extent, help, by developing certain analytical tools, advance Dewey's attempt to overcome the diremption of Modern life through his vision of educational practice. As such, Dewey and Davidson conceive education to be a form of cultural criticism that is normative at its root. Hence, any worthwhile and edifying educational practice will have cultural criticism at its center. Thirdly, despite Dewey's valiant and formidable attempt to overcome diremption through a conception of education as cultural criticism, it is, at the end of the day, insufficient. It's insufficient because Dewey is still wedded to the notion that in complex society, education means formal education. Fourth, if Dewey's goal is to be realized, then he will have to expand the possibilities and parameters of what education looks like in practice. And finally, only an education rooted in love can realize Dewey's goal of overcoming diremption. This is something the reifying, depersonalizing, and commodifying institutions of Modernity (including formal schooling) can't accomplish. |
