“John Dewey in China : to teach and to learn” (Publication, 2007)
Year
2007
Text
Wang, Jessica Ching-Sze. John Dewey in China : to teach and to learn. (Albany, N.Y. : State University of New York Press, 2007). (Suny series in Chinese philosophy and culture). (DewJ2)
Type
Publication
Contributors (1)
Wang, Jessica Ching-Sze
(um 2007) : Assistant Professor of Education and Philosophy, National Chiayi University, Taiwan.
Mentioned People (1)
Dewey, John
(Burlington 1859-1952 New York, N.Y.) : Philosoph, Pädagoge, Psychologe
Subjects
Philosophy : United States of America
/
References / Sources
Chronology Entries (17)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1900-2000 |
John Dewey and China : general. 1956 Michael, Franz H. ; Taylor, George E. : John Dewey's message was that democracy could be achieved only through a slow process and that social objectives were relative. He was particularly interested in the scientific approach which he described as the search 'for concrete methods to meet concrete problems according to the exigencies of time and place'. In contrast to the apparent indefiniteness of his general social philosophy, the Communist theory provided the Chinese intellectuals with a system which also claimed to be scientific and to be based on a materialistic and antimetaphysical interpretation of human life… The pragmatists helped to prepare the way for the spread of materialism in the next decades. By joining in the attack against Confucianism they discredited the traditional value system, but themselves offered no system of values. They proposed solutions to the problems of the day according to what Dewey called 'exigencies of time and place'. Because the pragmatists themselves tend toward a materialistic and utilitarian interpretation they offered little resistance to communist doctrine. 1960 Thomas Berry : Dewey's influence in the philosophical order might be described as a further development of the positivism that began to dominate the intellectual life of China after Yan Fu published his translation of Thomas Huxley's 'Evolution and ethics' in 1898. We can follow the later development of this positivism, especially in the years just preceding Dewey's arrival, in the pages of the periodical Xin qing nian. Hu Shi from his earliest years as a student was responsive to the attraction of Western materialist philosophy. He saw in science and technology something more spiritual than material. He developed the religious enthusiasm for Dewey's pragmatism. Hu was in close contact with the intellectual life of China during the critical years of its transition. Through him the new conception of the human mind as the instrument of pragmatic adaption to reality was transplanted to China. Hu sought especially to relate Chinese philosophical systems to their historical and social setting. In the field of philosophy, other traditions have been stronger than that of Dewey and Hu Shi. As a special school of philosophy pragmatism was vigorous for only a few years. Since the middle 1920's, pragmatism as a system has been overshadowed by other Western philosophies. Pragmatists, including Hu, turned their attention to educational reform, social reconstruction and political revolution. The philosophical arena was taken over by neo-Realism, rationalistic and idealistic neo-Confucianism, and finally by Marxism. The Marxist challenge to Dewey proved to be more effective than the Confucian or the idealist. Marxism began to awaken in the Chinese a response of very great depth and enthusiasm. Positivism and Hegelian idealism, with their insistence on the progressive stages of development in the mind of man, had prepared the way. Neither Dewey nor his followers realized how powerful and influence Marxist-Leninist Communism would become. During the two years of his venture in China, Dewey made the greatest single effort ever made to bring China into the new age of Western liberalism in political life, of radical empiricism in philosophy, and of progressivism in education. Most important was the philosophical weakness of his position. It offered no satisfactory alternative to the traditional humanism that in former centuries had fashioned the Confucian virtues in the individual person and which had given inner vitality to the social structure. His educational program contained some excellent ideas which could be most beneficial in the training of the young, but only within a more adequate philosophical and religious context which his philosophy could not supply. His cause was in trouble from the lack of strength in the existing Chinese government. Liberalism can grow and develop only within an ordered society. Liberalism supposes order, it does not create order. His cause was in trouble from the existing antagonism toward the West rising from resentment against the colonial systems that had been imposed on so many Asian peoples. The greatest influence of Dewey in China has been in the field of education. An ideal situation existed for his work as educator, a situation much more favorable, than the situation in America, for Chinese students had a sense of political and social involvement lacking among students in America. Detached intellectual speculation was as impossible and as undesirable for them as for Dewey. 'Education for living' had a welcome meaning to students anxious to make their contribution to the welfare of their society. Dewey constantly encouraged the Chinese to take the initiative in bringing their nation into its proper place in the modern world. Dewey's confidence in the power of the human mind to find its own way and his opposition to indoctrination of though upon the mind of other persons were embodied in his insistence that the Chinese should administer their own affairs. The achievement of Dewey was to strengthen the bonds of American-Chinese association. After his visit, other professors from America, particularly educators, were invited to China to assist in establishing training centers for teachers and to develop research program to guide and promote the new effort at the universal education of the Chinese people in accord with modern standards. Three achievements of Dewey should be balanced against a consideration of the detrimental effects of his influence : 1) In accenting the positivistic approach in communication between China and America, Dewey created further difficulties in spiritual communication between the two countries. 2) In encouraging the Chinese people to an immediate and thorough adaptation to the modern age, he helped to turn them further dependence on the West. 3) In fostering a closer association between China and America on the philosophical basis of pragmatism, he helped to alienate the more humanistic forces of China and thereby created an area of antagonism as well as an area of agreement. 1960 Chow, Tse-tsung [Zhou, Cezong]. The May fourth movement : Intellectual revolution in modern China. (Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1960). Chow notes on John Dewey : When Dewey classified in his lectures all social problems into three categories – economic, political, and intellectual – Dewey pointed out that economic problems were the most important, because, as he said, 'economic life is the foundation of all social life'. But the significant economic problem discussed by Dewey did not attract enough attention from his Chinese students and friends and other Chinese liberals. Chinese liberals at this time were preoccupied with educational reform, academic research, and the reevaluation of national classics. Few of them considered seriously the problem of the application of democray in China in terms of economic organization and practice. This was undoubtedly one of the major causes of their waning influence on the public following their dramatic role in attacking the traditional ideology and institutions. 1972 Ou Tsui-chen : For China, Dewey suggests some practical measures to realize the ideal of democracy. He does not think it necessary to follow the Western pattern to go through self-seeking individualism and then employ the power of state to equalize society. She may, he thinks, amalgamate these two steps at one stroke. Since in China political individualism has not made headway, traditional paternalism can be turned into the protection of its citizens by a democratic government. In dealing with cultural problems, Dewey proposes to attach great importance to the authority of science instead of the authority of tradition. He pleads for free thinking and free expression of thought. In addition to a prosperous material life, he advocates a free intellectual life. To fulfill this ideal, he stresses the importance of using education as an efficient tool. As the lectures were delivered shortly after the New Culture Movement had begun in Beijing and Chinese traditional morality was under severe criticism, Dewey's lectures often refer to the Movement and particularly to Chinese morality. Contrary to what might be expected, Dewey never advances any extreme view with regard to the then prevailing moral revolution. He takes a middle-of-the-road position vis-à-vis the conflict between the moralities old and new. At the end of his lectures, Dewey makes an excellent comparison between Eastern and Western ethical thought. He first states that morality is a function of the environment and varies with it. So it is difficult to judge which morality has more value than another. There is no doubt whatsoever that of all Western educators Dewey most influence the course of Chinese education, while his influence on Chinese thought, politics, and society in general is a controversial question difficult to resolve. A number of educational reforms and practices were introduced in China which reflected Dewey's influence : 1) Chinese educational aims were reconsidered in the light of Dewey's thought. 2) The national school system was reformed according to the American pattern. 3) Child-centered education was faced in the revision of the curriculum. 4) The new method of teaching according to the pragmatic theory was promoted. 5) Experimental schools were multiplied. 6) Student government as a mode of school discipline was promoted. 7) Literary reform and the adoption of textbooks for elementary schools written in the spoken Chinese language were encouraged. 1973 Robert W. Clopton ; Tsuin-chen Ou : Dewey's stay in China was one of the most significant and influential events in recent Chinese cultural history, but the Chinese have been so familiar with Dewey's influence that they have not bothered to analyze it, nor even to write extensively about it. Americans, on the other hand are largely unfamiliar with Dewey's impact on Chinese thought. In view of the reputation he established throughout the world, it is scarcely surprising that special attention to Dewey's Chinese sojourn should have been delayed. Yet there can be no doubt that China was the one foreign country on which Dewey exercised his greatest influence, particularly in the field of education. When we consider Dewey's impact on Chinese thought and education, we think first of the warmth of his reception in China. All who met him were impressed by his personality, his intellectual honesty, his enthusiasm, his simplicity of nature, his friendliness, and his sympathetic understanding of the Chinese people and their problems. All these characteristics contributed to his popularity both among the intellectuals and among the common people. On one occasion Cai Yuanpei, chancellor of National Beijing University, even likened him to Confucius. Another factor which contributed to Dewey's popularity among the Chinese was that, as an American, he represented the one great nation friendly to China and opposed to its partition by the great powers. Two important institutions were the main centers of Dewey's influence in China, both during his stay and after his departure. These were the National Beijing University and the National Nanjing Teachers College. Both had at their head men who had been Dewey's student : Chiang Monlin in Beijing and P.W. Kuo in Nanjing. Hu Shi involved Dewey in the New Culture movement. The other important institutions of higher learning helped to extend Dewey's influence throughout China : Beijing Teachers College of which Li Jianxun was president, and Nankai University in Tianjin, of which Zhang Boling was president. Dewey's impact was primarily on political and social trends. In his lectures he advocated democray – social, political, and economic. He opposed both laissez-faire individualism and Marxist Communism. While he proposed a general ideal, he refused to advocate any all-embracing ism or any concrete program for action. His principle of the primacy of method also dominated his social and political thinking. Dewey took an unequivocally anti-Communist position, severely criticizing and pointedly repudiating Marxism. In a speech delivered in Fujian he blamed the Communists for neglecting critical thought and for their blind obedience. Dewey most influenced the course of Chinese education, both in theory and practice. His philosophy of education dominated the teaching of educational theory in all teachers colleges and in university departments of education for many years. His textbook 'Democracy and education' was used everywhere, either as a text or as a work of reference. Dewey's disciples Dao Jixing and Chen Heqin (1892-1982) were the most responsible for spreading his influence in China. They developed her own system, taking Dewey's educational theory as her starting point. Dewey's influence in Chinese thought and education was dominant from1919 until1920. His influence first began to diminish after the May 30 incident in Shanghai in 1925. After the Nationalists came to power in 1927, Dewey's influence was seriously undermined. After 1949, the Chinese communists followed Soviet authorities and educators in their denunciation of Dewey and his followers. 1977 Barry Keenan : The most characteristic aspect of Dewey's lectures in China was his insistence that the fields of philosophy, education, and political theory incorporate modern science. He meant in particular the methodological importance of testing hypotheses with verifying evidence, and the implications of the Darwinian theory of evolution. The democratizing of society was linked by Dewey directly to the scientific revolution. His audiences in China were introduced to democracy and the philosophy of experimentalism, with both portrayed as related developments in the history of Western thought. Dewey's explanation of the role of the development of modern science in the West emphasized some points that were particularly designed for his Chinese audiences. One of these was the effect of science on human values and temperament. Dewey felt that the two or three hundred years in which the West had materialistically and morally undergone the effects of science accounted for the most evident differences between the East and West. Dewey's discussion of values extended to some criticism of the way ethics was taught in Chinese schools. In China the school system provided set course on 'ethical education' at the primary and secondary levels. Dewey attacked the theory behind such course, namely, that morality could be presented as a body of facts and knowledge. In his China lectures, Dewey felt it important to emphasize the child-centered curriculum – a turning away from classroom emphasis on subject matter to emphasis on the growth of the child. He dedicated one of his first lectures in Beijing to a discussion of the natural instincts and inherent dispositions of a child, which he considered 'the natural foundation of education'. Child-centered education should be a priority for China, Dewey felt, as a departure from the stratified society or authoritarian tradition that tended to promote the 'pouring in' of accepted subject matter as education. In the democratic society Dewey was told China was trying to create, there had to be equal opportunity for each child to develop his potentialities and become a participating citizen. It was important during a period of rapid social change, Dewey noted, that the younger generation be able to adapt to new conditions. Dewey's comments on reform in China were undoubtedly guided by his coaches and spokesmen, Hu Shi and Chiang Menglin. Many references appear in his lectures relating his educational ideas to social change and 'modernization' in China. Socialization of the child should not only give him or her a critical attitude toward tradition, but also develop his or her critical judgment about contemporary social and political conditions. Dewey and his followers in China felt that the school should be the basic unit in the reconstruction of China. Other institutions of social reform and betterment such as law and political parties, lacked the power of education to carry out deep and lasting change. The experience of going to school gave a child his first daily contact with an environment broader than the family. Dewey pointed out that it was the role of the school to present the world of human knowledge in order to extend the limits of the child's environment. Dewey's discussion of the nature of democracy in his China lectures were a kind of final equilateral component in the triangular connection of democracy, the experimental method, and the democratic education. The democratization of knowledge by science had led historically to an increase in the role of the common people in society, as Dewey saw it, and the connection between scientific knowledge and democracy remained close. As he said soon after arriving in Beijing : 'A person in a democratic country must have the power of independent judgment, the power to think freely, and the actual opportunity to experiment. He must be able to use his own ability to choose the direction of his ideas and his behavior.' In the process of formulating a pragmatic philosophy of politics Dewey discussed rugged individualism, Marxism, and socialism. He warned China to avoid the dangers of rugged individualism. Throughout his lectures he endorsed the idea that individuals should be able to develop themselves to their full potential. The dangers of uncontrolled individualism were emphasized by Dewey because he feared China, in the throes of liberating itself from the authority of the state and the family system, would be prone to fall into its opposite extreme of radical individualism. Dewey was critical of Marxism in his lectures. He pointed out that Marxian theory had failed on two counts : 1) although capital squeezed out competition as predicted, the workers came to fare better and better- the poor did not become poorer and poorer ; 2) the prediction regarding industrial nations being the first to change to socialism was erroneous and shed doubt on the rest of the theory. The question of labor discontent was taken very seriously by Dewey, but he addressed himself critically to Marx's theory of alienation. Dewey was not so critical of some non-Marxian types of socialism. Guild socialism in particular had several points Dewey thought appropriate to China's needs. The existence of guilds in China – for railroads, mines, forests, and roads – provided a natural organizational unit which could be useful in China's transformation from a handicraft to an industrial economy. Dewey called for Chinese reformers to retain a direct connection between the past and change. Dewey's views called for a re-evaluation of traditional customs and institutions, but not for their rejection. Intensive study of the past were encouraged, so that the indigenous cultural traits and institutions relevant to contemporary needs could be discovered and conserved. Dewey's lectures gave many liberal Chinese reformers an unusual opportunity to study and apply an extremely up-to-date and philosophically reliable formulation of the modern democracy. What Dewey said in these lectures, was his own first-draft attempt to see how well pragmatism might be applied to politics. 1995 Su Zhixin : Deweyan experimentalism – as a way of thinking, as a way of acting politically, and as a component of democratic education – offered no strategy Dewey's followers could use to affect political power. Without such a strategy, failure was the main consequence of his followers' pragmatic reform efforts. Their reformism was paralyzed by dilemma. Dewey himself recognized this failure after his visit to China, writing, "The difficulties in the way of a practical extension and regeneration of Chinese education are all but insuperable. Discussion often ends in an impasse : no political reform of China without education ; but no development of schools as long as military men and corrupt officials divert funds and oppose schools from motives of self-interest. Here are the materials of tragedy of the first magnitude". The experimentalist philosophy, conceiving in a rich, literature, industrial, and relatively serene America and propagated by well-intentioned, but somewhat sheltered, Chinese intellectuals, was finally not appropriate for a huge, varied, agricultural, particularistic country. Maybe this is an important reason for Dewey's silence about his historic visit to China, and his views on educational development in China in his later years. The American scholars conduct their evaluation in a purely academic manner, and they are not personally affected by the consequences of what they say or write because they are far detached from the Chinese reality. The Chinese scholars, on the other hand, have to pay attention to the political climate while conducting their evaluation of Western influence because what they say will directly affect their academic careers and personal lives – being 'politically incorrect' in academic discourse could result in the loss of jobs and alienation of families. In general, the Chinese do not differ from their American counterparts in their acknowledgment of the strong and widespread influence of Dewey's ideas on Chinese educational theory and practice. While the Americans do not question Dewey's sincerity in promoting the development of a democratic society or the worthiness of Dewey's ideas for Chinese schools and society ; some praise him as a saint, while others condemn him as an enemy. In many ways, it has been an ideological struggle between Dewey's pragmatism and experimentalism and Marxist-Leninist Communism. Deng Xiaoping's political and economic pragmatism paved the way for Chinese intellectuals to become infatuated once again with Western pragmatism. Under these circumstances, a serious reevaluation of Dewey's influence on Chinese education has begun to emerge among Dewey scholars and concerned educators in China. Some critics suggest that the worthiness of certain elements in Dewey's educational philosophy and its status in the history of philosophy should be reevaluated. They recommend that instead of totally denying Dewey, the Chinese should critically borrow and make use of Dewey's ideas in Chinese educational practices. 1999 David L. Hall ; Roger T. Ames : The New Culture Movement was initially anti-Confucian, and Dewey's thought was seen to be in radical opposition to traditional Confucian ideas. When Sun Yat-sen and the Guomindang promoted a return to many of the traditional Chinese values and institutions, Dewey's thought was deemed unacceptable due to its foreign origin. When the communists came to power, Dewey's thought was roundly condemned as an expression of Western imperialism. After the establishment of the People's Republic, a purge of Deweyan pragmatism was begun. Literally millions of words were written refuting Dewey's works. The reasons for Dewey's failure finally to influence China were largely associated with his refusal to take a wholesale approach to social problems. Always warning the Chinese against the uncritical importation of Western ideas, as well as the uncritical rejection of traditional Chinese values, Dewey, in spite of his radical reconstruction of the popular democratic ideal, was simply too moderate for a China in search of revolution. It was practically inevitable, that Marxism's wholesale ideology would replace Dewey's decidedly retail philosophy. Dewey's educational reforms, badly misunderstood and only partially applied from the beginning, have long since been effectively abandoned. His understanding of democracy was never altogether in the mainstream. In many ways, the opportunity to introduce a reconstructed idea of democracy seems to have been lost as surely in America as it was in China. 1999 Kim Bong-ki : Dewey traf in China zu einem Zeitpunkt ein, als sich das Land in nahezu allen Bereichen in einer Phase des Umbruchs befand, dessen Ursache externer wie interner Natur war. Die Probleme rührten vornehmlich von der Begegnung mit dem Westen her, der die wissenschaftliche Revolution und die darauf folgende industrielle Revolution früher in Gang gesetzt hatte. Hinzu kamen innere Schwierigkeiten in Form einer prekären Wirtschaftslage, grassierender Korruption und eines in weiten Teilen der Bevölkerung als ungerecht empfundenen Steuersystems. Angesichts der Vielzahl und der Schwere der Probleme erstellte Dewey auf der Grundlage seiner pragmatistischen Gesellschaftstheorie eine konkrete Diagnose und entwickelte Reformvorschläge für die Erneuerung der traditionellen chinesischen Gesellschaft. Die – in Deweys Sicht – hinreichende Ausstattung der chinesischen Kultur mit demokratischen Elementen : Abschaffung der Feudalherrschaft in der Antike, prinzipieller Zugang zur Bildung für alle, besondere Betonung der Erziehung führt ihn zu der Erwartung, China könne den Übergang zum Industrialismus noch kreativer und effektiver durchführen, als der Westen dies geleistet habe. Dewey These von der Verankerung demokratischer Elemente in der chinesischen Tradition findet ihre Bestätigung in den Konzeptionen des 'tian-ming' (Mandat des Himmels) mit einer verbindlichen Tugendlehre für die Herrscher, ihrer Machtbegrenzung und Fürsorgepflicht für das Volk, und des 'yanlu' (Wege der Kommunikation), eines Bestandteils der konfuzianischen Staatsauffassung, in dem Missstände der Beamtenschaft bis hin zur Kritik am Kaiser verzeichnet waren. Was den Erfolg im Sinne Deweys um eine Transformation Chinas anbetrifft, wird man, aufs Ganze gesehen, sagen können, dass der Pragmatismus sich nicht dauerhaft durchzusetzen vermochte, dass er am ehesten noch in der Erziehung zum Tragen kam. Wenn es überhaupt zu positiven Ergebnissen gekommen ist, lässt sich dies darauf zurückführen, dass Dewey die von ihm selbst vorgegebene Prämisse der Vermeidung eines geraden westlichen Transfers nach China ernstgenommen hat. Das amerikanische Konzept der Progressiven Schule wurde von Dewey modifiziert und auf die chinesischen Bedürfnisse zugeschnitten. So war zwar die 'Progressive Education' darauf gerichtet, den in der veränderten Lebenswelt aufgetretenen neuen Herausforderungen zu begegnen, die bewahrenswerten Elemente der chinesischen Tradition sollten aber für die Gegenwart fruchtbar gemacht, die spezifischen Bedingungen und Erfordernisse Chinas in das Bildungssystem eingebracht werden. Als größter einleitender Schritt für eine allgemeine elementare Erziehung kann die unter Deweys Einfluss von Hu Shi vollzogene Einführung einer an der Umgangssprache ausgerichteten Schriftsprache - 'baihua' - gelten, die seither landesweit im Gebrauch ist. Weitere erfolgversprechende Ansätze erbrachten die Schülerselbstverwaltung und die Dezentralisierung der Schulkontrolle und Schulsteuerung, derzufolge den Erfordernissen der örtlichen Umgebung besser entsprochen werden konnte. Deweys Pragmatismus hat es als einzige westliche philosophische Strömung unternommen, Reformvorschläge für die Behebung der chinesischen Kulturkrise in der Zeit nach dem ersten Weltkrieg auszuarbeiten. In zeitlicher Parallelität zur Rezeption und der Interpretation der Ideen Deweys durch die chinesischen Pragmatisten verlief die gesamte Reformbewegung, wobei der Themenkreis die Kritik an den traditionellen Wertmaßstäben, Gebräuchen und Institutionen, die Ordnung des nationalen Erbes durch kritische Interpretation der überlieferten Geschichte, Literaturkritik und die Sprachreform umfasste. Hinsichtlich des Versuches der Schüler Deweys, seine politischen Ideen in die Praxis umzusetzen, muss gesagt werden, dass es bei dem Versuch geblieben ist. Im Sommer 1919 brach eine In zeitlicher Parallelität zur Rezeption und der Interpretation der Ideen Deweys durch die chinesischen Pragmatisten verlief die gesamte Reformbewegung, wobei der Themenkreis die 'Debatte über Probleme und Ismen' bzw. 'Reform und Revolution' auf, die für die folgenden 30 Jahre der politischen Entwicklung Chinas von Bedeutung war, weil sie in der Öffentlichkeit eine intellektuelle Spaltung der Liberalen und Linken hervorrief, die nicht rückgängig gemacht wurde. Während Li Dazhao, Gründer der KPCh, die marxistische Theorie als Alternative zur grundlegenden Lösung für alle gesellschaftlichen Probleme befürwortete, lehnte Hu Shi einen allumfassenden Ismus oder ein konkretes Programm für Aktionen ab und plädierte nachdrücklich für die Reformidee des Pragmatismus, der wegen seiner kritischen Potenz und des Fehlens dogmatischer Züge von einer anderen Qualität ist: die gesellschaftliche und politische Erneuerung durch schrittweise Progressivität, den einzigen in seiner Sicht gangbaren Weg. 2001 Martina Eglauer : Die Wissenschaft stellt nach Deweys Auffassung für China während der Umbruchsphase eine wichtige, ja sogar die einzig mögliche konstruktive Hilfe zur Umgestaltung der Gesellschaft dar. Die solle die neue 'Autorität', im Sinne von 'any thought or belief which directs human behaviour', sein und die zukünftige Orientierung liefern. Die Wissenschaft könne in Zukunft die Rolle übernehmen, die die Tradition in der Vergangenheit einnahm. Seine radikaldemokratische Auffassung, die die Entwicklung und Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Geistes in einer demokratischen Gemeinschaft verankert, versucht Dewey auch in China zu vermitteln, denn wissenschaftliche Erziehung ist für ihn gleichzeitig auch demokratische Erziehung. Nachdem die Wissenschaft jedermann zugänglich sein solle, sei eine Erziehungs- und Bildungsreform erforderlich, welche die traditionellen Lehrmethoden durch neue Methoden ersetzt. Wissenschaft könne nur auf dem Boden intellektueller Freiheit optimal gedeihen. Dewey verweist darauf, dass Wissenschaft nicht einfach mit Technologie identifiziert werden dürfe. Im Hinblick auf den 'wissenschaftlichen Geist', der für die Entwicklung der neuzeitlichen Wissenschaft eine wesentlich fundamentalere Rolle spiele, als einzelne Technologien und Errungenschaften, diagnostiziert Dewey einen Aufklärungsbedarf für China. China könne bei der Entwicklung der wissenschaftlichen Methode von den Erfahrungen des Westens profitieren, und gleichzeitig aus den Fehlern des Westens lernen. Dewey bescheinigt China zwar ein mangelndes Bewusstsein im Hinblick auf die Bedeutung des wissenschaftlichen Geistes, er geht aber von einer grundsätzlichen, verbindenden Rationalität aus. Der wissenschaftliche Geist gilt für ihn nicht als westliches Spezifikum, sondern als unviersales Vermögen, das allen Menschen zu eigen ist. Aus pragmatistischer Sicht ist die Situation in China stark veränderungsbedürftig. Das geistige Klima, welches Dewey vorfindet, ist noch vorwiegend von den alten Traditionen und Strukturen verhaftet und die traditionellen Werte und Gewohnheiten erweisen sich als gesellschaftsbestimmende Konstanten. Für das Reformprojekt in China übernimmt Hu Shi ungebrochen das pragmatistische Wissenschaftsverständnis seines Lehrers Dewey, das er als wirksame Methode für die kulturelle Erneuerung vorstellt. Umgekehrt wirken seine, unter pragmatistischer Perspektive getätigten Analysen auf die Diskussion in der westlichen Philosophie und Wissenschaftsgeschichte zurück. 2002 Jay Martin : After his trips to Japan and China, Dewey had become a changed person, an evolving person. His educational vision and his political understanding had broadened beyond American boundaries to include the world. Dewey was indeed transformed by his trip to the Far East from U.S. philosopher to a transnational philosopher. In addition, after his visit to China, Dewey maintained his noninterventionist approach to international politics. Dewey's visit to China and his efforts to help modernize China's schools, which were widely reported and recognized, led to many invitations from other foreign governments to inspect their education systems. 2003-2004 Sor-hoon Tan : Hu Shi was promoting Dewey's philosophy while he was still developing it. Hu's pragmatist work in China, his promotion of vernacular literature, was an important contribution because it made possible 'the means of communication and publicity required for democracy'. Dewey's views on the process of thought were extremely important in the development of Hu's intellectual method. And much of Hu's life was devoted to the social inquiry that Dewey argued has to be at the center of democratic life, even though the inquiry was necessarily imperfect given the circumstances, and Hu was inclined to a more individualistic view of inquiry than was warranted by Dewey's conception of democracy. Hu Shi, explaining Dewey's views on thinking, singles out 'the cultivation of creative intelligence' as 'the greatest aim of Dewey's philosophy ; it is creative intelligence that will enable human beings to respond satisfactorily to their environments, both physical and social. In his own way, Hu tried to realize Dewey's scientific method as intelligent practice, to transform his own experience and his country's. Hu believed that science could solve moral and political problems. These sentiments echo those in Dewey's 'Reconstruction of philosophy'. Dewey also believed that philosophy has much to learn from modern science, and that the lesson would improve philosophy's ability to handle what should be its central task, solving the problems of humanity, especially moral and social problems. Hu Shi was not misreading or misapplying Dewey when he defended the relevance of science to life, including its moral and political aspects ; but he was less sensitive than Dewey to the dangers of worshiping the achievements of the physical sciences, because he believed that China's backwardness rendered it much more in need of the benefits of science than at risk from science's evils. This does not mean that he would not have agreed with Dewey's clarification that there are important differences between physical sciences and social sciences. Hu's interpretation of pragmatism as method has considerable support from Dewey's writings, he sometimes exaggerated Dewey's own emphasis on method. Referring to Dewey's 1907 'What pragmatism means by practical', he claimed that 'Dewey, from beginning to end, only recognized pragmatism as a method'. Hu borrowed from Dewey much more than the mere formulation of an intellectual methodology. While he pointed out that Dewey's visit to China gave his Chinese audience 'no specific proposals such as communism, anarchism, or free love [but] a philosophical method which enabled [them], through its use, to solve [their] own special problems'. In Dewey's theory and practice, politics and education are integrated in the endeavor to bring about democracy. Dewey endorsed Hu Shi's strategic exclusion of political involvement only to the extent that the politics in question was of a variety that sill awaited reconstruction if it was to contribute to democratization. While Hu and Dewey were not against radical changes, they did not believe in 'revolutionary changes' that break completely with the past. The misplaced denial of the inherent continuity of experience even in the midst of the most drastic discontinuities would only lead to the destruction of not only obsolete customs and institutions but also the values those customs and institutions were originally intended to serve, values that may still be relevant to the new situation. What Dewey's experimentalism led Hu Shi to reject was an undemocratic power struggle that might ensure short-term political victory only at the cost of the eventual defeat of democracy. Hu's attempt to realize Dewey's pragmatism in China may not have succeeded in bringing about democracy, but we should not overlook the democratic significance and far-reaching effect of certain aspects of the education and cultural reforms he and other initiated. If Hu Shi seems a little selective in his presentation and interpretation of pragmatism, we must remember that he was promoting Dewey's philosophy even as Dewey was still developing it. Moreover, from a pragmatist perspective, his mentor's views are not absolute truths ; they are tools to be used appropriately in the circumstances. 2007 Jessica Wang : Many know that Dewey went to China to teach, but few know that he went because he wanted to learn. Dewey taught the Chinese a lot about the West and learned a great deal about China. Even though he may have had some exposure to Chinese culture through his Chinese students at Columbia University, it was not enough to prepare him to be a China expert. Most of Dewey's writings about China are the result of his own observations, assisted by his conversations with various people – his own students and translators, travel guides, missionary friends, academic acquaintances, and institutional hosts – and, most important, by his own study of Chinese history. In his sojourn, Dewey learned about the Chinese social psychology and philosophy of life. At the same time, he also came to understand the West and to question its Eurocentric worldviews. His presence in China opened his eyes to the dark realities of international politics, it also sheltered him from criticism for his idealistic support for the war. Coinciding with the well-known May fourth movement, Dewey's two-year visit demarcated a significant episode in the history of intellectual exchange between China and the United States. One of the most important episodes in the history of intellectual exchange was to grow out of the effort of the U.S. government to promote the education of China's young elites. The encounter between Dewey and China in the 1920s was characterized by ambivalences, uncertainties, and changes on both sides. Faced with challenges from the West, Chinese intellectuals had initially sought to acquire Western technology and implement Western institutions. Later, they realized that they had to study the ideas that inform Western development and practice. During the two years of his stay, Dewey came into contact with these contending ideologies. Although Chinese intellectuals had ambivalent attitudes toward the West, Dewey had his doubts about how the United States should respond to China, or rather, how the United States could help China. Dewey was trying to understand China and its precarious position in the international world, while Chinese intellectuals were trying to understand Dewey and his position in their ideological battles. In the 1920s, Chinese opinions of Dewey reflected their own vexed interests in liberalism, neo-traditionalism, and Marxism. In the 1930s and 1940s, as China underwent a series of domestic and international wars, a natural eclipse of interest in Dewey occurred. Since the establishment of the Communist regime in 1949, the dialogue between Dewey and China took a drastic turn. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Chinese Communist government launched a large-scale campaign to purge the pragmatic influences of Hu Shi and Dewey. During this period, pragmatism was eschewed as an evil influence of Western imperialism and capitalism. In the 1980s, due to the reform and open door policy of China, the dialogue about Dewey was revived. Since then, Chinese scholars have started to reevaluate Dewey and pragmatism. Dewey's experimental theory of inquiry made him qualified as 'Mr. Science'. His promotion of democratic ideals earned him the legitimate title of 'Mr. Democracy'. His concerns for the education of the masses contributed to his reputation as the common people's educator. The three topics on science, democracy, and education are chosen for many reasons. First, they constitute the major themes of Dewey's lectures ; second, they reflected the interests and concerns of his Chinese hosts ; and third, they evoked considerable responses and criticisms from his audience. Dewey knew that in their attempt to emulate Western technology, the Chinese tended to espouse a one-sided, mechanistic view of science, paying attention merely to the products, not the process of science. Therefore in his lectures, Dewey stressed science as a method of thinking, knowing, and acting that has a positive impact on morals and values. During his visit, Dewey was often asked about ways China could avoid the pitfalls of Western materialistic culture. He admitted that love of money, cruelty in military battles, and contention between capital and labor accompanied material progress in the West. He hoped that the Chinese would come to appreciate science as a method of intelligence for coping with problems and difficulties in ordinary life, rather than as a collection of objective truth. Knowing that such a view of science was not even widely shared in the West, he somehow hoped that the Chinese would consider his suggestions, particularly when they planned for education reform. Dewey was aware of the increasing trend toward individualism in China and was wary of its concomitant problems. He advised the Chinese not to follow the same path Western nations had taken – namely, going through a stage of self-seeking individualism to the next stage in which state power had to be used to ensure social equality. He believed that Chinese culture was endowed with democratic elements that would enable her to carry out the transition to industrialism more creatively and effectively than the West had done. Even though Dewey had great sympathy for the struggles of the Chinese and admired many unique qualities of Chinese culture, he was not uncritical of their weaknesses – their passivity and reliance on authority. Therefore, in his lectures, he often stressed the importance of spontaneity, creativity, and initiative, reminding his audience that they needed to reconcile partisan disputes and undertake practical tasks that demands large-scale organization and cooperation. Knowing that the Chinese had learned to organize themselves to operate on a national level, Dewey suggested that schools should cultivate a sense of public spirit extending beyond the students' immediate environments. Dewey's political activism often runs a sharp contrast to Hu Shi's conservatism. Dewey exerted little influence in Hu's pragmatist experiment in China, even though Dewey was also a participant. Dewey was aware that Hu's reform approach was not very practical, that intellectual, attitudinal changes still depended on concrete changes in economic and social conditions, but Dewey was in no position to intervene. Dewey acknowledged the New Culture group Hu led and was willing to 'give face' to their liberal ideals. 2007 Ding Zijiang : Dewey's philosophy was very attractive to Chinese intellectuals because he seemed to give them an 'easygoing' and also 'efficient' way to deal with many current issues. He taught the Chinese people (1) to pay more attention to practical effectiveness rather than man's knowledge of transmaterial being or all former illusions about transcendent truths ; (2) to concern themselves with those immediate problems of individual and social life rather than the past heritage of culture, which had limited the country's development, and any abstract and all-embracing 'ism' which was not urgent for today's actual life, and (3) to consider intelligence as an instrument for meeting and mastering the new social environment. Dewey's pragmatism was suitable for a certain aspect of Chinese thought patterns. Dewey's pragmatism as a method is congenial to the practical mentality and disposition of the Chinese people, and it is also a factor of fundamental importance among those that contributed to Dewey's popularity. The Chinese tradition, unlike the Greek one, has never exalted knowledge for its own sake, but rather for its usefulness to morality, society, politics, and culture. For this reason, leading Chinese intellectuals used Dewey Dewey's pragmatism was suitable for a certain aspect of Chinese thought patterns. Dewey's pragmatism as a method is congenial to the practical mentality and disposition of the Chinese people, and it is also a factor of fundamental importance among those that contributed to Dewey's popularity. Dewey's pragmatic experimentalism with telling effect as a weapon with which to criticize Chinese culture and the traditional value system. One of the reasons for Dewey's influence on China is the 'holistic' nature of his thought, which was thoroughly in tune with a similar position found in Chinese thought. For example, Chen Duxiu's totalistic attack on Confucianism resulted, among other factors, from his conception of the Confucian tradition as fundamentally a holism that rigidly directed all later developments of Confucianism. Dewey's real success in China was his educational thought. Dewey emphasized that there was nothing which one heard so often from the lips of representatives of Young China today as that education was the sole means of reconstructing China. Dewey's theories, such as the 'own experience-centered principle', the 'teaching-learning-doing combination principle', the 'school as a society principle', and the 'education for living principle' were extended and advances by his Chinese disciples, such as Tao Xingzhi, one of the most influential Chinese educators. For the new Chinese intellectuals, Dewey's leading principle was that education is an instrument of social change and development. Accordingly, students who have grown politically aware under the new educational regime can be considered as a force, who will in the future make politics of a different sort. The most important aspect of 'Deweyanization' is education. Dewey was a teacher of teachers. Teaching people how to life and think in the new age of science, technology, democracy, and social development was his mission. His School of education (1889) and Democracy and education (1916) were well known by Chinese edcators and intellectuals. Hu Shi accepted Dewey's idea that education is life and school is society. Importantly, political reform can only be achieved after a social and cultural transformation, which must be promoted by way of education. Dewey himself systematically explained the same views as Hu Shi's in his articles on China. As he correctly pointed out, since 'democracy was a matter of beliefs, of outlook upon life, of habits of mind, and not merely a matter of forms of government', it demanded 'universal education', and the first step towards achieving universal education was to establish the spoken language as a written literary language. In the 1920s, with Dewey's visit, the entire American educational system was transferred to China, and American aims, methods, and materials became dominant. Deweyanized experimental schools and training programs were popularized. Even the purpose of Chinese education was redefined according to Dewey's progressivism, such as learning by doing, developing abilities by capacities, and students themselves running schools. Dewey's educational influence on China : (1) Chinese educational aims were reconsidered in light of Dewey's thought ; (2) the national school system was reformed according to the American pattern ; (3) child-centered education predominated in the revision of the curriculum ; (4) new methods of teaching in accordance with Dewey's pragmatic theory were initiaded ; (5) experimental schools were expanded ; (6) student government, about which Dewey made a number of speeches, was widely extended as a mode of school discipline ; (7) literary reform was encouraged, and elementary school textbooks written in the vernacular were adopted. |
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| 2 | 1919 |
4. Mai Bewegung = May fourth movement = Wu si yun dong = 五四运动 Befürwortung einer westlichen Kultur und Neuorientierung an nach China gelangten Literaturtheorien. Es beginnt eine völlige Neubewertung der literarischen Gattungen. Die jungen Intellektuellen sind bestrebt, im Westen nach der Wahrheit zu suchen, in der westlichen Literatur ihr Vorbild zu finden. Die meisten lehnen das traditionelle Musiktheater ab und fordern ein Sprechtheater nach europäischem Vorbild. Im Sprechtheater sehen sie vor allem eine neue Form, die geeignet ist, die Bevölkerung aufzuklären und die neuen Ideen zu verbreiten. Huang Jiande : Die Entfaltung der Individualität, die geistige Freiheit, Zerstörung des Traditionalismus weisen objektiv eine ziemlich fortschrittliche Bedeutung auf. Yue Dafu : Der grösste Erfolg der 4. Mai Bewegung war als erstes der, dass 'das Individuum' entdeckt wurde. Frühe Menschen existierten um Willen des Kaisers und des Tao. Die heutigen Menschen haben zur Kenntnis genommen, dass sie für sich selbst existieren. Jessica Wang : On May 4, 3000 students in Beijing held a mass demonstration against Japanese imperialism and domestic political corruption. In big cities, general strikes supporting the students ensued along with larg-scale boycotts against Japanese goods. |
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| 3 | 1919.04.15 | John Dewey received the notification from Columbia University that his leave of absence to China was approved. He did not promise to stay a year in China until he arrived there in person. |
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| 4 | 1919.05.04 |
4. Mai Bewegung = May fourth movement : John Dewey was as sympathetic to the workers as he was to the students. His Chicago colleagues' disapproval of the strike correlated with Hu Shi's negative opinion about the student revolt. Hu insisted that the students should devote themselves to their studies rather than to politics ; Dewey endorsed the student's revolt as a gesture of righteous indignation. Dewey was glad for young China because it now realized, that it did not need to be saved from without. Nonetheless, Dewey knew that merely resorting to protests and rebellions would not bring about constructive change. In the new press, all kinds of Western social and political theories were translated and discussed, including anarchism, liberalism, socialism, Marxism and Dewey's own pragmatism. Even though Dewey questioned the students' interest in Marxism, he acknowledged their overall intellectual enthusiasm. Even though Dewey recognized the importance of cultural reform, he had doubts about such a single-minded approach. Unlike the Chinese intellectuals, he did not establish an arbitrary dualism between cultural and political reform. He acknowledged the importance of Western learning and sensed a more pressing need for China to develop her industry. He thought that Chinese intellectuals were too preoccupied with absorbing new thoughts and new theories to accomplish any effective political or practical change. Dewey's dream for a true political revolution following the May fourth student demonstration did not materialize. He understood that the salvation of China depended not so much on the few intellectuals in the cities as on the ordinary men and women throughout China. |
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| 5 | 1919.10.19 |
Banquet to celebrate John Dewey's sixtieth birthday in Beijing. Cai, Yuanpei. Zai Duwei bo shi 60 zhi sheng ri wan yang hui shang zhi yan shuo [ID D28515]. At the banquet, Cai Yuanpei seized on this special opportunity to portray Dewey as a modern-day Confucius. "Confucius said respect the emperor (wang), the learned doctor (bo shi) [Dewey] advocates democracy ; Confucius said females are a problem to raise, the learned doctor [Dewey] advocates equal rights for men and women ; Confucius said transmit not create, the learned doctor [Dewey] advocates creativity". In his brief speech, Cai emphasized underlying similarities between Dewey and Confucius despite their differences : one embodies the spirit of modern West, and the other represents the wisdom of ancient China ; one values democracy, equality, and creativity, and the other privileges monarchy, hierarchy, and tradition. According to Cai, Dewey and Confucius were both educators of the common people, shared the same faith in education as a vehicle for social change, and insisted on the unity of thought and action. Cai believed that these commonalities pointed to the possibility of 'a merger between Eastern and Western cultures'. |
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| 6 | 1919.12 |
Chen, Duxiu. Shi xing min zhi de ji chu. [ID D28554]. [The basis for the realization of democracy]. Chen Duxiu was highly interested in John Dewey's lecture on 'Democratic developments in America'. Chen began his essay by acknowledging Dewey's broad delineation of democracy in terms of political constitution, civil rights, social equality, and economic justice. Chen remarked that all socialists would share Dewey's belief about social and economic democracy. He endorsed Dewey's claim that the realization of democracy should not be limited to the political sphere. 'The elevation of social life' should be the primary goal. Chen did not accept everything Dewey said. He actually suggested that Dewey blend the four dimensions into two : the political and the socioeconomic. Chen did not trust what Dewey said about political democracy : that individual liberties can be protected by the constitution and that public opinion can be secured by a republican government. In light of the total failure of China's republican government, Chen argued that a mere system of representation and constitutionalism would not ensure the realization of political democracy. He said that the best system was 'direct legislation', which would lead to 'the breaking down of the distinction between those who govern and those who were governed'. Chen was especially inspired by Dewey's historical account of the United States' grassroots democracy, which was developed from self-governing villages and towns rather than imposed by the legislation of the federal government. Chen's critique of Dewey's conception of democracy reflected his own concern with socio-economic questions as well as his limited understanding of democratic procedure and institutions. In his proposal, Chen took Dewey's advice to use China's traditional guild system to build a grassroots foundation. He believed that China could 'develop democracy using England and America as a model. He quoted from Dewey's lecture to emphasize democracy as the best possible society 'because democracy means education. |
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| 7 | 1920 |
[Dewey, John]. Duwei wu da jiang yan. Hu Shi yi. [ID D25871]. [Five major lecture series of John Dewey in Beijing]. Hu Shi : "Dr. Dewey intends to revise and expand his original lecture notes for publication in book form. When his manuscript is complete, I hope to translate it into Chinese, so that both English and Chinese versions can be published at the same time." Robert W. Clopton : Unfortunately this intention was not carried out. Dewey's lectures were published in Chinese, many of them in the Bulletin of the Ministry of Education. Dewey referred in his lecture on ethics to Sun Yat-sen's theory : 'To practice means to seek knowledge. A theory must be tested before it becomes accurate. I fully agreed with the great Chinese statesman Dr. Sun Yat-sen, when he said the old saying, 'to know is easy ; to act is difficult' has contributed a great deal to the backwardness of China, because under the influence of the saying people have become lazy and hesitant to do anything. It is true that we cannot always anticipate with accuracy the consequences of what we do. But this is no warrant for us to sit idle. The more we try doing something, the more experience we have and therefore the more knowledge we can get. The attempt to get knowledge apart from doing and applying it in a practical situation never will succeed. Jessica Wang : Hu Shi's translations seem highly problematic – mostly in style and tone and occasionally in content. Hu's eloquent, pompous, and proselytizing style marked a dramatic difference from Dewey's usually unassuming and unimposing style. I do not mean to suggest that Hu Shi intended to distort Dewey's lectures, nor do I mean to imply that the records of Dewey's lectures in China were largely fabricated and unreliable. Nonetheless, we may reasonably believe that Hu may have occasionally altered the meanings of what Dewey said to highlight a particular point or to promote a certain agenda. Even though these occasional anomalies may seem minor, they eventually affected the way Chinese intellectuals responded to Dewey. |
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| 8 | 1920.07.10 |
Remer, C.F. John Dewey's responsibility for American opinion [ID D28542]. Dewey's thought [about China] is not of the apologetic sort ; it is experimental. This makes him a liberal thinker in the true sense ; there is an air of freedom and hope about him. He does not, as many do, pay lip service to liberalism while his mind is set upon the main chance and safety first. Dewey has helped the people of the United States to get a fair and honest appreciation of the activities of the Chinese and should be honored as a true servant of his country and of the people of his time. |
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| 9 | 1921 |
Fei, Juetian. Duwei di she hui yu zheng zhi zhe xue [ID D28517]. [A critique of John Dewey's social and political philosophy]. Fei Juetian wrote a scathing critique of Dewey's lectures on social and political philosophy. Disagreeing with Dewey's comment about the cause of international conflicts, Fei claimed that conflicts exist not between nations, but between classes. It was unrealistic for Dewey to hope that through the development of industry and education, China could endow individuals with rights while also providing the opportunities to exercise those rights. This could be realized only by carrying out a revolution as the Russians did. Fei further asserted that Dewey's experimental approach to politics based on collective inquiry and continuous reform simply did not make sense. "If I tell the world that we should experiment with socialism and see if it works, people would think that I am crazy and would oppose this experiment. If I proclaim that socialism holds the ultimate truth to solving problems in today's society, that there is no better theory than socialism, people will become interested in its practice and help transform the theory into a reality". Fei rejected Dewey's particularistic approach to solving social problems, claiming that social problems were all interrelated and could not be dissected into this or that particular problem. An educational problem may have been tied to a political or economic problem. Fei also disagreed with Dewey that social theories should be grounded in concrete facts, not on abstract speculations. Fei condemned Dewey for overly replying on contingent social knowledge at the expense of eternal truths, without which, he believed, human civilizations would not advance. He completely denounced Dewey's claim that science could be applied to solving social problems. Fei believed that social problems were not difficult to resolve if only the proletariat were made aware of their oppression by the capitalists and thus united to fight for their right. He concluded that Dewey's experimental approach would not work ; only a social revolution, a class war, could provide the antidote to all of China's ills. |
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| 10 | 1921.05.26 (publ.) |
Wu tuan ti gong jian Duwei zhi yan lun zhi. In : Chen bao ; May 26 (1921). [Report from the farewell banquet for John Dewey]. "Dewey was not only teaching us ; he was teaching Europeans and Americans about us. There have been politicians and diplomats in the country before. However, their reports about us were usually distorted by their own particular interests and agenda. Many came to visit for a few days and returned with a book of one or two thousand pages. Dewey was different. He reported our situations truthfully to the reading public in America. He would occasionally point out our problems and weaknesses, but he had great love for us". Jessica Wang : Dewey returned the kindness of his Chinese hosts by acknowledging that he had a wonderful time and learned very much from his visit. He stressed his admiration for the young people in China – their enthusiasm for new learning and their concern with the well-being of society at large – but he kindly reminded the Chinese that the problems of China could be solved only by actually trying to solve them. |
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| 11 | 1921.06.24-27 (publ.) |
Dewey, John. Present opportunities in the teaching profession : delivered at the Beijing Teachers College. = Jiao shi zhi ye zhi xian zai ji hui. Wang Zuoran interpreter, Shu Lan recorder. In : Chen bao fu kan ; June 24-27 (1921). In his last public lecture in Beijing, John Dewey began by saying that because he had given so many lectures, he actually had nothing much to add. However he felt reluctant to decline the invitation and thus agreed to give a farewell speech. |
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| 12 | 1921.07 |
John Dewey : Lecture 'The importance of dynamic morality' : delivered at the Guangdong Teachers College. In : Guangdong sheng jiao yu hui za zhi ; July (1921). Dewey said, 'the static and passive morality which is characteristic of the Chinese people may produce strong and enduring character, but it stresses obedience and filial piety ; dynamic morality, on the other hand, stresses creativity, venturesomeness and willingness to assume responsibility'. He argued that static and passive morality was appropriate for an authoritarian state ; but 'in a democratic state where maintenance of social equilibrium and progress of social reconstruction are functions of individual responsibility, dynamic morality must be cultivated. China's survival, he insisted, hinged on the cultivation of dynamic morality through schooling. |
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| 13 | 1921 |
Sun, Fuyuan. Duwei bo shi jin ri qu le [ID D28543]. [Dr. Dewey is gone today]. "The Dr. Dewey in your head may be the professor at the podium at Columbia University, or the person who occasionally talked to your or had lunch with you. The Dr. Dewey in someone else's head may not be the Dewey from the podium or the dinner table, because he may never meet Dewey in person. His Dr. Dewey may be the Dewey of the 'Five major lectures series' – the ideational Dewey, not the physical Dewey. Yet another person's Dr. Dewey may not reside in the real person or his works, but in the picture on the first page of that book. Since different people have different 'Deweys' in mind, and since 'Dr. Dewey' is exactly the synthesis of these different conceptions, then how does the physical Dewey that is gone today compare to this 'Dr. Dewey' in our heads ?" |
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| 14 | 1922 |
Mo, Fenglin. Ping Duwei ping min yu jiao yu [ID D28520]. Mo Fenglin reviewed John Dewey's book 'Democracy and education'. He first acknowledged Dewey's contribution in connecting education to broader experiences in life and the larger society. He criticized Dewey for neglecting religious and aesthetic dimensions of human experience. Life, he said, was not simply about coping with problems in the environment ; it should also be about appreciating life itself. Dewey was wrong to talk more about geography and history than about art. Furthermore, Dewey mistook inventions for fine arts. 'The intrinsic value of fine arts, such as Sophocles' and Shakespeare's plays, Phaedias' sculptures, is not to be compared to the instrumental value of an invented object such as a printing machine or a coin.' Dewey's 'child-centered' education was also a target of criticism. Mo accused Dewey of advocating random expressions of the impulses of youth, thus turning 'the autocracy of the adult' into 'an autocracy of the child'. He also thought that Dewey's emphasis on interest and play would sacrifice the importance of discipline and effort in the educational process. Even though Dewey's democratic theories of education successfully challenged an aristocratic style of learning enjoyed only by a privileged few, Dewey failed to consider what Mo called 'natural aristocracy'. Lastly, Mo faulted Dewey for putting too much emphasis on elementary education at the expense of adult learning. Dewey's 'Democracy and education' was a philosophy of elementary education, not a philosophy of education. Mo lamented the fact that Dewey's book was regarded as the bible of the field. |
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| 15 | 1922.10.22 |
Wu, Jiangling. Ping Duwei zhi jiao shen zhe xu zhi [ID D28523]. Wu complimented Dewey's effort to unite knowledge with experience so that learning was not limited to what was contained in books. She also perceived great value in Dewey's concept of school as a miniature society and his emphasis on learning by doing. She felt that Dewey's vision of education was too narrow because he talked only about controlling the environment. Wu asserted that Dewey advocated a life completely governed by rationality to the exclusion of sentiments. She also agreed that Dewey's focus on children did not qualify his book to be properly regarded as 'the philosophy of education'. |
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| 16 | 1923 |
Lin, Zhaoyin. You Duwei ping min zhu han yu jiao xing zhi ji tang ruo yi wen [ID D28519]. Lin criticized Dewey for emphasizing process over purpose, society over the individual, the child over the adult, interest over discipline, rationality over sentiment, participation over contemplation and practical life over spiritual life. Dewey emphasized the importance of social sympathy and responsibility, but neglected the importance of individual interests and needs. In her opinion, schools should help transform society to serve individual needs better. Lin also thought that Dewey's process-oriented conception of education prevented him from specifying the aims of education, thus rendering the educational process haphazard and pointless. She also found Dewey's scientific, rational approach to life limited and inadequate. Dewey represented a typical Western mindset in its excessive desire to control nature rather than appreciate it. Dewey 'only knew the value of an active life but not that of a tranquil life. |
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| 17 | 1946 | John Dewey received the invitation to lecture in China and he decided to accept it, even though his family was concerned for his safety and health. The invitation was cancelled due to unsettling political situations. |
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Sources (13)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1919 |
Zhi, Xi. Duwei bo de xue xiao yu she hui zhi. In : Xin chao ; vol. 2 (1919). [John Dewey's school and society]. 杜威博的學校與社會夂 |
Publication / DewJ65 | |
| 2 | 1919 |
Zhi, Xi. Duwei ta shi de de xing si dao. In : Xin chao ; vol. 2 (1919). [John Dewey's 'Moral principles in education']. 杜威他士的德行似到 |
Publication / DewJ66 | |
| 3 | 1919 |
Chen, Duxiu. Shi xing min zhi de ji chu. In : Chen, Duxiu zhu zuo xuan. Ren jianshu, Zhang Tongmo, Wu Xinzhong bian. Vol. 2. (Shanghai : Shanghai ren min chu ban she, 1993). [The basis for the realization of democracy]. 實 行民治的基礎 |
Publication / DewJ95 |
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| 4 | 1919 |
Dewey, John. Meiguo zhi min zhi de fa zhan. In : Jue wu ; Suppl. of Min guo ri bao ; June 21 (1919). [Democratic developments in America. Vortrag in China 1919]. 美國之民治的發展 |
Publication / DewJ56 |
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| 5 | 1919 |
Cai, Yuanpei . Zai Duwei bo shi 60 zhi sheng ri wan yang hui shang zhi yan shuo. In : Shen, Yihong. Duwei tan Zhongguo. (Hangzhou : Zhejiang wen yi chu ban she, 2001). (Shi ji hui sheng). [Speech given at the Banquet to celebrate John Dewey's sixtieth birthday in Beijing]. 在杜威博士60之生日晚養會上之演說 |
Publication / DewJ59 | |
| 6 | 1920 |
Xi, Ping. Wo dui Duwei shi yan ji de gan xiang zhi. In : Yue wu ; July 27 (1920). [My response to Dewey''s experimentalism]. 我對杜威式驗基的感想夂 |
Publication / DewJ68 | |
| 7 | 1920 |
Remer, C.F. John Dewey in China. In : Millard's review ; vol. 13 (July 3, 1920). Remer, C.F. John Dewey's responsibility for American opinion. In : Millard's review ; vol. 13 (July 10, 1920). |
Publication / DewJ84 | |
| 8 | 1921 |
Fei, Juetian. Duwei di she hui yu zheng zhi zhe xue. In : Ping lun zhi ping lun ; vol. 2 (1921). [A critique of John Dewey's social and political philosophy]. 杜威底社會與政治哲學 |
Publication / DewJ61 | |
| 9 | 1921.07.11 |
Sun, Fuyuan. Duwei bo shi jin ri qu le. Fulu. In : Chen bao ; July 11 (1921). [Dr. Dewey is gone today]. 杜威博士今日去了 |
Publication / DewJ85 | |
| 10 | 1922 |
Mo, Fenglin. Ping Duwei ping min yu jiao yu. In : Xue heng ; vol. 10 (1922). [A review of Dewey's 'Democracy and education']. 評杜威平 民與教育 |
Publication / DewJ64 | |
| 11 | 1922 |
Wu, Jiangling. Ping Duwei zhi jiao shen zhe xu zhi. In : Xue deng zhi ; Oct. 22 (1922). 評杜威之教身哲學夂 |
Publication / DewJ67 | |
| 12 | 1923 |
Lin, Zhaoyin. You Duwei ping min zhu han yu jiao xing zhi ji tang ruo yi wen. In : Jiao yu jie ; vol. 12 (1923). [A few questions about Dewey's democracy and education]. 游杜威平民主函與教行之幾倘疑問 |
Publication / DewJ63 | |
| 13 | 1994 |
Liang, Shuming. Zhe heng zhi gen ben gai nian. In : Liang Shuming jiao yu lunz hu xuan. Ma Qiufan bian. (Beijing : Ren min jiao yu chu ban she, 1994). (Zhongguo jin dai jiao yu lun zhu cong shu). [Fundamental ideas in John Dewey's Philosophy of education]. 哲亨之根本概念 |
Publication / DewJ62 |
Cited by (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2000- | Asien-Orient-Institut Universität Zürich | Organisation / AOI |
|