Abstract
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist, and leading figure in the
progressive education movement that took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. While many are familiar with Dewey’s educational philosophy and its aim to
promote and improve America’s democratic experience, few are familiar with the integral
role that Dewey’s philosophy of history played in his perceived need for a reconstruction in
and of philosophy, in the development of his philosophy of education, and in the
implementation of his philosophy of education at the Laboratory School. The focus of this
thesis centers on this gap in our understanding of Dewey’s philosophy of history and its
implementation at the Laboratory School. Through a four-fold inquiry, I argue that at the
heart of Dewey’s approach to philosophy and education lay an intelligent understanding of
past human growth, progress, and intellectual development with an overarching emphasis on
knowledge as an experimental, experiential, and reconstructive process rather than as a
product. This paper examines Dewey’s unique history of philosophy, the development of his
philosophy of history, the application of his ideas at the Laboratory School, and the trajectory
of his philosophies of history and education over the last one hundred years.
progressive education movement that took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. While many are familiar with Dewey’s educational philosophy and its aim to
promote and improve America’s democratic experience, few are familiar with the integral
role that Dewey’s philosophy of history played in his perceived need for a reconstruction in
and of philosophy, in the development of his philosophy of education, and in the
implementation of his philosophy of education at the Laboratory School. The focus of this
thesis centers on this gap in our understanding of Dewey’s philosophy of history and its
implementation at the Laboratory School. Through a four-fold inquiry, I argue that at the
heart of Dewey’s approach to philosophy and education lay an intelligent understanding of
past human growth, progress, and intellectual development with an overarching emphasis on
knowledge as an experimental, experiential, and reconstructive process rather than as a
product. This paper examines Dewey’s unique history of philosophy, the development of his
philosophy of history, the application of his ideas at the Laboratory School, and the trajectory
of his philosophies of history and education over the last one hundred years.