Is John Dewey's Thought "Humanist"?

• In Event: 35.082 - Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 35.082-5 - The Relevance of John Dewey to Today's Educational Research Environment

Abstract

Building on posthumanist research, I focus on some of Dewey’s major concepts—experience, growth, interaction, habit—in order to uncover how these terms describe human, but not only human, conditions of being in the world. This allows me to situate Dewey’s thought in relation to the emergent field of the posthumanism, where it holds the potential to radically alter our notions of language, politics, and education. Despite a lot of lip service to the contrary, Dewey’s ideas have not had very profound effect on educational policy or institutions in the United States. By revealing the relevance of Dewey’s thinking for the posthumanist project, I argue that the time may at last have come for this to change.

Author

• Nathan Snaza, University of Richmond