China and the West

John Dewey : Shortly after the Communist takeover of the Chinese mainland, organized efforts were made to criticize and discredit John Dewey's philosophy and its practical influence in China. This began in a number of articles singling out for attach Dewey's educational philosophy, grew into a vehement and systematic campaign directed against Hu Shi but usually involving Dewey as well, and continued sporadically through the articles and books directed either against Hu Shi or Dewey himself, or against pragmatism as a school of though. This reaction might be considered a continuation of the 'radical' response already discussed earlier, except that, this time, the earlier radicals have come into power. Indeed, Chen Duxiu himself has been discredited much earlier. The reactions of the 1950s are entirely negative. There is no longer any discussion of pros and cons, any impartial analysis of Dewey's thought and influence. What we have is a thoroughgoing critique of Dewey's pragmatic theory of truth, his experimentalist methodology, as well as his social, political and educational philosophy. The criteria for criticism are derived from Marxist theories and are assumed to be themselves free from error. Dewey is criticized for being an idealist, who regards as truth only the data of subjective experience, and neglects the reality of the objective world. The pragmatic theory of truth is attacked for being relativistic and diametrically opposed to the absolute verity of the materialist interpretation of the laws governing class struggle and historical development. Dewey's social, political and educational theories are regarded as serving the interests of American capitalism and imperialism.