In 1933 Dewey was one of 34 signers to a document called the Humanist Manifesto. (Dewey scholars say he had a hand in writing it.) After its introductory paragraphs there are fifteen numbered paragraphs each telling what humanists believe.
Point four is very like the first paragraph of Dewey’s My Pedagogic Creed written 36 years earlier: It says you are not much more than a product of society.
The consequence of this is point fourteen. Here is that point in full:
“The humanists are firmly convinced that existing acquisitive and profitmotivated society has shown itself to be inadequate and that a radical change in methods, controls, and motives must be instituted. A socialized and cooperative economic order must be established to the end that the equitable distribution of the means of life be possible. The goal of humanism is a free and universal society in which people voluntarily [yeah right] and intelligently coopermen. ate for the common good. Humanists demand a shared life in a shared world.”
In the humanities Dewey’s “unit” of thought is society, the least element by which everything is measured. He doesn’t see, and doesn’t want to see, individual men. Especially he doesn’t want to attribute achievements to individual men.
You should go here, http://www.dewey.area24.net/, to find more information about the unknown Dewey. Afterwards, you will probably homeschool your children.
