Human Being's Liberation ——Critical Aim Of John Dewey's Educational Philosophy

John Dewey (1859-1952) was a great American pragmatist philosopher, democratic educator and social practitioner in 20th century. As"the voice of American democracy in 20th century", Dewey was committed to the pursuit of human's liberation and social progress all his life,which was considered the highest value. He upheld democratic beliefs firmly and took the fate of human as his responsibility. Democracy was the pursued goal of an ideal society which was also the core of his educational thoughts.In the Late 19th and early 20th century, the United States completed the modern industrialization and became the largest economic country in the world because of the rapid development of modern experimental science and industrial technology.During this period, the living conditions of American society were undergoing the rapid change, social structure and dramatically ideology changed as well.However, the educational system and educational theory at that time was still inherited from the old traditions of Europe, that's the reason why education of American could not match the development of society and economy.It was based on these problems from age and traditional education that his education aimed to cultivate the spirit and ideas of people, promoting the development of society and economy. He claimed that human beings should be able to work with self-esteem, self-reliance and wisdom. Dewey's democratic educational theory formed from the conflict of traditional education and innovation of education in American.Dewey's pragmatism theory not only critiqued the traditional education but also brought innovation in the mind, so that people re-evaluated the value of education. Dewey critiqued the mode of education which took the individual as a knowledge container. The education separated life experiences from children, so that they became obedient by external pressure and had no initiative spirit and responsibility. Separated from the deliberate actions, rigid knowledge would lead to lack of real life ability. And it was the obstacle to the development of children's physical and mental health. Compared with traditional education, life education advocated that students should experience directly by themselves in a wide range of environment and in the process of living together. It was more helpful to cultivate student's skills of finding meaningful problems, ability to think creatively and to control their own behavior and destiny in a democratic society. Dewey's educational philosophy was more concerned about the individual. Promoting the continuous growth of people, the pursuit of individual dignity and self-realization were its fundamental purpose.Only this purpose could be able to inspire wisdom of people. Gaining constant experience in free activities contributed to the development of human being and the progress of democratic society. In this sense, human being's liberation was the fundamental purpose of Dewey's educational philosophy.Undoubtedly, educational theory which is based on the experiences of life brought new vitality to American educational innovation. In fact, it was not easy to implement the theory into practice effectively.