Deweyan Responses to Authoritarianism, Artificial Intelligence, and Threats to Democratic Education

Session Type: Paper Session

Abstract

This paper session examines contemporary threats to democratic education through Deweyan philosophy. Papers explore how authoritarian movements weaponize intelligence testing versus Dewey's conception of intelligence as socially mediated practice. Presentations span diverse resistance contexts: African intellectuals adapting progressive education for nation-building; Fanonian interventions addressing alienation and dehumanization; algorithmic authoritarianism threatening democratic agency; and AI's implications for educational democracy. From postcolonial nation-building to classroom practice with emerging technologies, these papers demonstrate how Deweyan ideas illuminate and resist authoritarian structures globally. The session addresses: How do oppressive systems misuse educational concepts? What philosophical resources does Dewey offer for resistance? How can educators cultivate democratic intelligence today?

Sub Unit

• SIG-Dewey Studies

Chair

• Charles L. Lowery, Virginia Tech

Papers

• Dewey and the Machine: Democracy and Education in the Age of AI - Nick DePascal, University of New Mexico

• Intelligence and the Anti-Democratic Threat of the Authoritarian Right: A Deweyan Response - Austin J. Pickup, Aurora University; Jessica Heybach, Western Michigan University

• Pragmatic Disalienation: A Fanonian Intervention into Deweyan Pragmatism - Ryland Frost, Williamsburg Charter High School

• Transnational Deweyans: African Intellectuals and the Making of Progressive Education for Nation-Building - Toyosi Stephen Adedara, Baylor University

• Virtuous Foundations: Reconstructing Democratic Agency Through Phronesis and Basic Goods in an Age of Algorithmic Authoritarianism - Sean Chen Liu, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

Session Organizer

• Jessica Heybach, Western Michigan University