Theory of Valuation

by John Dewey

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Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

74 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey, along with Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, is recognized as one of the founders of the philosophy of pragmatism and of functional psychology. He was a major representative of the progressive and progressive populist philosophies of schooling during the first half of the 20th century in the USA.

In 1859, educator and philosopher John Dewey was born in Burlington, Vermont. He earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University in 1884. After teaching philosophy at the University of Michigan, he joined the University of Chicago as head of a department in philosophy, psychology and education, influenced by Darwin, Freud and a scientific outlook. He joined the faculty of Columbia University in 1904. Dewey's special concern was reform of education. He promoted learning by doing rather than learning by rote. Dewey conducted international research on education, winning many academic honors worldwide. Of more than 40 books, many of his most influential concerned education, including My Pedagogic Creed (1897), Democracy and Education (1902) and Experience and Education (1938). He was one of the founders of the philosophy of pragmatism. A humanitarian, he was a trustee of Jane Addams' Hull House, supported labor and racial equality, and was at one time active in campaigning for a third political party. He chaired a commission convened in Mexico City in 1937 inquiring into charges made against Leon Trotsky during the Moscow trials. Raised by an evangelical mother, Dewey had rejected faith by his 30s. Although he disavowed being a "militant" atheist, when his mother complained that he should be sending his children to Sunday school, he replied that he had gone to Sunday School enough to make up for any truancy by his children. As a pragmatist, he judged ideas by the results they produced. As a philosopher, he eschewed an allegiance to fixed and changeless dogma and superstition. He belonged to humanist societies, including the American Humanist Association. D. 1952.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dewey has a great topic here, and I desperately wanted to understand has thinking on the topic, but really couldn’t. The fault, I assure you, was entirely my own. I just lack a philosophical vocabulary.

[Frank Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a fellow Vermonter, I have felt constrained to praise Dewey. I haven't been able, however, to read what he has written to any strong advantage. This book, actually a soft cover pamphlet, is in the same series as Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." The series also includes a book about Psychology by Egon Brunswick, Otto Neurath on Social Sciences, and Carl Hempel on concept formation. The idea of the series is to "aid in the integration of scientific knowledge." It is an early example of interdepartmental thinking. In his book, Dewey makes points that seem consistent with Pragmatism. "Cash value" seems to be the valuation he is thinking about, with an emphasis on observation of behavior and results. Here's a quote: "Desires and interests produce consequences only when the activities in which they are expressed take effect in the environment by interacting with physical conditions." I got my water damaged copy of this book free; good luck finding yours.

[Steven Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short book and an easy read with amazing similarities to phenomenology. If you know Heidegger's Being & Time you will find striking similarities in the analysis of our access to objects and the structure of the world that Heidegger lays down in chapters II-III of that work. Dewey brings values down from the abstract realm of ideas into real world experience and how from this basic experience we in turn learn to value things always in relation to ends-in-view ultimately leading back to simple human curiosity. Dewey's concept of ends-in-view bears uncanny similarity to Heidegger's notion of the for-the-sake-of [worauf]. I highly recommend this book in conjunction with Dewey's Moral Principles in Education.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dark horse of a book in Dewey's oeuvre. Read in a Senior Seminar as an Undergrad.