John Dewey's The Quest For Certainty

John Dewey is considered to have been a pedagogical progressivist, meaning he focused on education reform by first reforming the way that the teaching was actually done. In the past education focused on teaching children facts, mostly by learning with repetition. This was a problem because it taught children information but not how to use that mindfulness with critical thinking in real-world situations. These problems led John Dewey to write a series of articles that described his views on teaching and how it should be improved upon, this is called “My Pedagogic Creed”. Dewey wanted to equally incorporate a psychological, the abilities and interest of the student, and sociological, the needs and commitments of the society, aspect into teaching. He believed that children were born with blank slates and throughout their lives they would receive guidance “unconsciously” and be molded into adults (Dewey, 1). So the introduction of these aspects would help the molded children into better citizens and that would help drive the social economy into prosperity and overall a better democratic society.

Determinism is a doctrine suggesting that for every event there exist conditions that could cause no alternative event. Free will is a philosophical term describing a particular sort of capacity of rational agents to choose a course of action from among various alternatives. Understandably, the dichotomy between these two concepts is a topic philosophers have debated over for many years. As a result of these debates, a number of alternative philosophical perspectives arguing for the existence of free will, namely libertarianism and compatibilism, have emerged, existing in stark contrast to determinism. In order to ascertain the extent to which free will is compatible with determinism, one must first consider these different approaches to

Hamlin Garland correctly demonstrates a strong example of determinism through the changing circumstances of Tim Haskins that were affected

Have you ever had a feeling of doubt? In the play Doubt by John Patrick Shanley the reader is left with a lot of doubt because Father Flynn, one of the main characters, is being persecuted for sexually harassing a young boy in his class. In this play a pastor by the name of Father Flynn is being investigated because Sister Aloysius is suspicious that he has been sexually harassing a young boy by the name of Donald in their school. Based on the evidence in Patrick Shanley’s play, Doubt: A Parable, I conclude that Father Flynn is not guilty, because Sister A does not like Flynn and Sister A doubts all of her wrong doings after all of this commotion. There are also a lot of small reasons why he should be not guilty.

Being regarded as father of progressive education, John Dewey’s most valuable contribution lied in the promotion of practical approach to education. His progressive education method underlined the importance of experience in learning, which was contradictory to the earlier days’ traditional authoritarian and rote learning educational approach. John Dewey believed in democracy in education, suggesting a learn process by participating and doing. His educational approach also put an emphasis on the development of relevant and practical life skills for students.

There are 3 basic views that can be taken on the view of determinism, (1) deny its reality, either because of the existence of free will or on independent grounds; (2) accept its reality but argue for its compatibility with free will; or (3) accept its reality and deny its compatibility with free will.In this paper I am going to be defending the view compatibilism, specifically W. T. Stace’s view of compatibilism.

John Shanley’s “ Doubt” is a story illustrating a nun concern over a priest suspicious behavior inside the church. The nun sister Aloysodid is worried about the problem not being fixed as it can cause more problem s in the future. Sister Aloysius is determining to solve the problem but the priest Father Flynn is not being corrapertive to solve the problem. In the story we learn sister alyonsis cannot solve the problem by herself because of her ranking in the church. Father Flynn is uncomfortable because he has been open with the boys and is nervous of Sister Aloysius.

Depending on how old you are, it is possible that you have experienced many great presidents throughout your lifetime. Every single person in this world has their own view as to what a president’s role in the world should be, and how their values should reflect them. So far, the United States has gone through 42 Presidents who have all offered many new ideas that have aided our country tremendously. One of these great men was our 33rd President, Harry S. Truman who was thrown into the presidents’ seat on April 12, 1945 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt died suddenly.

Many times I find myself sitting and wondering whether I am fully free or not. I wake up every single morning and do the same routine, which is eat breakfast, go to class or work, do homework, go to the gym, shower, and then go to bed. Does this truly mean I am free? There are a lot of questions that you can ask yourself while following a routine. Is this really the path I should have taken? Were my choices determined by external factors? Determinism is the thesis that an any instant there is only one physically possible future. Robert Blatchford and Walter Terence Stace, two philosophers, both agree that determinism is true, although they have two different views on whether this means that people are free or not. Blatchford believes that everything is predestined. Stace on the other hand, believes that a person chooses what they do because of free will. In this essay I am going to discuss both of the philosophers’ views more in depth and why I favor Stace’s view over Blatchford’s.

Great philosophical thinkers from many schools of thought and throughout history have argued the point of determinism. A well-renowned philosopher, for his works on free will and determinism is David Hume. David Hume is considered the most influential compatibilist in this free will debate. His view on determinism very closely determined the foundation of compatibilitism.

In this paper, I will consider Harry Frankfurt 's arguments for the compatibilism of determinism and

Furthermore, there are three main aspects which were customarily associated with a science: metaphysical, theoretical and methodological assumptions. Under metaphysical it is believed that to gain scientific status requires the certainty that the subject matter i.e. human thought/ behaviour, is similar to that of other accepted sciences. This could then be true for Psychology, as particularly since Darwin’s suggestion of a continuity between behaviours of humans and other species, behaviour has become more scrutinised. However, this must be assumed in respect of determinism, suggesting predictions could be made. ‘Heisenbergs uncertainty principle’ suggests that when relating evidence of indeterminism within the universe to human behaviour, it proves ambiguous, and with parts of the discipline believing strongly in free will it seems difficult to establish a common ground (Valentine E.R. page 2).

The essay "The Value of Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell suggests that many “practical” people view philosophy as rather useless, because these people are – according to Bertrand Russell – operating both with wrong conceptions about the ends of life and wrong conceptions about what goods philosophy strives to achieve. According to Russell the value of philosophy is in what it does for the person who studies it. He makes the point that goods of the mind are as important in life as goods of the body. He says that the main value of philosophy is that it enlarges one’s thoughts, brings one into union with the “not-Self”, and helps us avoid being caught in narrowness as human beings. His main ideas are that philosophy is to be studied to enrich our intellects, diminish our dogmatism, and make us citizens of the universe.

Empiricist philosophers such as John Locke believe that knowledge must come from experience. Others philosophers such as Descartes believe that knowledge is innate; this way of thinking is used by rationalist. In this paper I will discuss the difference between Descartes rationalism in his essays "The Meditations" and Locke's empiricism in his essays "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding". I will then lend my understanding as to what I believe as the ultimate source of knowledge.

John Dewey transformed the United States educational system as a philosopher, reformer and psychologist. He published thousands of writings on art, social theory, logic, and ethics, but is best known for his promotion of pragmatism and democracy. His work in the birth of functional psychology made him one of the most cited and influential psychologists in the 20th century.