How We Think

by John Dewey

One of America’s foremost philosophers, John Dewey (1859-1952) fought for civil and academic freedom, founded the Progressive School movement, and steadfastly promoted a scientific approach to intellectual development.
In How We Think, Dewey shares his views on the educator’s role in training students to think well. Basing his assertions on the belief that knowledge is strictly relative to human interaction with the world, he considers the need for thought training, its use of natural resources, and its place in school conditions; inductive and deductive reasoning, interpreting facts, and concrete and abstract thinking; the functions of activity, language, and observation in thought training; and many other subjects.
John Dewey’s influence on American education and philosophy is incalculable. This volume, as fresh and inspirational today as it was upon its initial publication a century ago, is essential for anyone active in the field of teaching or about to embark on a career in education.

Genres: Philosophy, Education, Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Classics, Teaching

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1910

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

[Maughn Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this short book Dewey shows what pragmatist learning theory means for epistemology (what it means to think well) and for pedagogy (the study of teaching and learning). The starting point is a mind already active, curious and interested in what's going on around it, that, given the chance, will figure out how to read its environment for conditions likely to improve its qualitative experience. Learning what things mean in a way that enables you to make a difference you care about is the only kind of learning worth the effort.

[Anima · Rating 4 out of 5]

" Natural intelligence is no barrier to the propagation of error, nor large but untrained experience to the accumulation of fixed false beliefs. Errors may support one another mutually and weave an ever larger and firmer fabric of misconception"

"Curiosity rises above the organic and the social planes and becomes intellectual in the degree in which it is transformed into interest in problems provoked by the observation of things and the accumulation of material...To the open mind, nature and social experience are full of varied and subtle challenges to look further. If germinating powers are not used and cultivated at the right moment, they tend to be transitory, to die out, or to wane in intensity. This general law is peculiarly true of sensitiveness to what is uncertain and questionable; in a few people, intellectual curiosity is so insatiable that nothing will discourage it, but in most its edge is easily dulled and blunted...
Some lose it in indifference or carelessness; others in a frivolous flippancy; many escape these evils only to become incased in a hard dogmatism which is equally fatal to the spirit of wonder. Some are so taken up with routine as to be inaccessible to new facts and problems. Others retain curiosity only with reference to what concerns their personal advantage in their chosen career."
...."Certain men or classes of men come to be the accepted guardians and transmitters—instructors—of established doctrines. To question the beliefs is to question their authority; to accept the beliefs is evidence of loyalty to the powers that be, a proof of good citizenship. Passivity, docility, acquiescence, come to be primal intellectual virtues. Facts and events presenting novelty and variety are slighted, or are sheared down till they fit into the Procrustean bed of habitual belief. Inquiry and doubt are silenced by citation of ancient laws or a multitude of miscellaneous and unsifted cases. This attitude of mind generates dislike of change, and the resulting aversion to novelty is fatal to progress. What will not fit into the established canons is outlawed; men who make new discoveries are objects of suspicion and even of persecution."
...."Consider the following quotation: "When it first occurred to a reflecting mind that moving water had a property identical with human or brute force, namely, the property of setting other masses in motion, overcoming inertia and resistance,—when the sight of the stream suggested through this point of likeness the power of the animal,—a new addition was made to the class of prime movers, and when circumstances permitted, this power could become a substitute for the others. It may seem to the modern understanding, familiar with water wheels and drifting rafts, that the similarity here was an extremely obvious one. But if we put ourselves back into an early state of mind, when running water affected the mind by its brilliancy, its roar and irregular devastation, we may easily suppose that to identify this with animal muscular energy was by no means an obvious effort."
.."Experience is not a rigid and closed thing; it is vital, and hence growing. When dominated by the past, by custom and routine, it is often opposed to the reasonable, the thoughtful. But experience also includes the reflection that sets us free from the limiting influence of sense, appetite, and tradition. Experience may welcome and assimilate all that the most exact and penetrating thought discovers. Indeed, the business of education might be defined as just such an emancipation and enlargement of experience. Education takes the individual while he is relatively plastic, before he has become so indurated by isolated experiences as to be rendered hopelessly empirical in his habit of mind. The attitude of childhood is naïve, wondering, experimental; the world of man and nature is new. Right methods of education preserve and perfect this attitude, and thereby short-circuit for the individual the slow progress of the race, eliminating the waste that comes from inert routine."

[Cassandra Kay Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not saying that I did not enjoy this book. I am just going to say that I have pretty much decided that all philosophy is turning into is a giant rolling sweep of defining terms. I understand the role that language plays in how we communicate as human beings. I understand that spending a chapter defining one term or another helps to get the main point across. All I am saying is that I am starting to feel like it is a cop out for further thought and appropriation of ideas. I am not sure if Dewey came up with much that was new or enlightening here. Like I said this does not mean that the content was not good or that the material was not interesting or pertinent. It just means that I am starting to see a formula and find it ungenuine in the pursuit of intellectual ideas. Maybe there is a formula because it works. I understand that. But it leads me to have no surprises that so little in the world of philosophy emerged for so long after Aristotle. After all he did it well. It was a good formula. Perhaps I just expected more from philosophers of our age. What are we really learning? Other than how to better articulate ourselves. Besides a book on thought that takes into account almost no neural biology in this day and age seems a bit dated.

[Trần Hải Đăng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuối cùng thì cũng đọc xong cuốn sách hại não nhất năm 2018 :)) chắc phải mở tiệc =))

#Review: Cách Ta Nghĩ (How we think)
Điểm nội dung: 9,5/10

Bạn muốn tư duy của mình thêm sâu sắc? Bạn quan tâm đến tâm lý giáo dục? Bạn có đủ sự kiên nhẫn để cố gắng đọc những lý thuyết khô khan và trừu tượng? Bạn muốn một chút thử thách khi đã quá chán những cuốn sách dễ ăn dễ nuốt, khẩu vị nhạt? Vâng cuốn sách này sẽ cho bạn tất cả những điều đó :v

Một ngày có lẽ bạn chỉ nên đọc từ 1-2 chương cuốn sách này nếu không muốn trí não của mình nổ tung vì sự "khó tiêu" của nó tuy nhiên đổi lại thì lượng kiến thức thu được cũng như quá trình tập rèn tư duy và trí nghĩ ngay khi bạn đọc cuốn sách này theo tôi thì khá xứng đáng cho điều đó.

NXB Tri Thức thì luôn có những cuốn sách khá kén người đọc, nhưng quả thực cuốn này theo tôi sẽ còn ế dài nếu như không có những review chi tiết cho nó. 🤣😂🤣

Nội dung: Bao hàm cả cuốn sách là về vấn đề trui rèn tư duy và trí nghĩ đặc biệt tác giả cực kỳ nhấn mạnh đến khía cạnh giáo dục của việc luyện trí năng bởi bản thân ông là 1 nhà cải cách giáo dục. Phần 1 và 3 thì có lẽ sẽ dễ tiêu hơn 1 chút so với phần 2 đặc biệt là chương "SUY LUẬN HỆ THỐNG QUY NẠP VÀ DIỄN DỊCH" có lẽ tôi dù đọc rất kĩ mới chỉ thẩm thấu được 40% kiến thức chương này. Xuyên suốt tác phẩm qua các yếu tố tâm lý của trí nghĩ và các khía cạnh của nó tác giả luôn lồng ghép nó vào vấn đề giáo dục. Hơi bất ngờ so với dự định ban đầu của tôi khi nghĩ đây chỉ là 1 cuốn tâm lý học thuần túy. Có 1 số chương tôi khá thích ở cả 3 phần đặc biệt một vài lý luận về sự phản tỉnh trong nhận thức khiến tôi thực sự phải nghi ngờ hơn nữa mọi quan điểm để không bị sa vào sự sói mòn của thói hời hợt.

Kiến thức mà Dewey truyền tải rất nhiều cách trình bày khá "xương xẩu" không dễ nuốt nhưng phải thừa nhận nếu ngẫm nghĩ kĩ kiến thức của nó mang lại là rất nhiều so với những cuốn sách khác bởi từng câu từng chữ không thể đọc nhanh được vừa đọc vừa ngẫm nghĩ như quá trình rèn luyện tâm trí. Có lẽ do đó mà tác giả cố ý viết như thế chăng?

Điểm trừ của tác phẩm là nhiều chi tiết quá chi li. Tôi không nghĩ là nên dùng từ "tiểu tiết" nhưng thật sự cách diễn đạt đó của Dewey hơi khiến cho người đọc dễ mất tập trung đọc trước quên sau, đặc biệt với tính hàn lâm "cực nặng" cứ phải căng não hoặc đọc đi đọc lại vài lần những đoạn khó hiểu mới nắm bắt được ý chính tác giả muốn truyền đạt. Khá là "toát mồ hôi", tuy nhiên đây không phải cuốn sách đọc để giải trí, thực sự là cứ phải tập trung hơn bình thường thì mới thẩm thấu được tác phẩm này. Tôi cũng đọc được kha khá các tác phẩm tâm lý học và triết học trước khi đến với "Cách Ta Nghĩ" nhưng chưa tác phẩm nào lại nặng đô đến vậy.

Một điều nữa mà tôi thấy không hài lòng đó là dịch giả có vẻ rất thích dùng những từ ngữ ít phổ biến chứ ko phải kiểu thuật ngữ chuyên môn. Ví dụ như "bé cái lầm", "thức nhận" thay vì "nhận thức", "giác độ" thay vì "góc độ" hoặc 1 số từ mà tôi tra google cũng ko thể tìm ra được ý nghĩa của chúng như "xác quyết" "chung cùng" xét theo ý tứ trong câu thì hoàn toàn có thể thay thế những từ khác dễ hiểu hơn mà không khiến câu văn trở nên tối nghĩa và khó hiểu.

Tổng quan thì nội dung sâu sắc giàu tính suy tư nhưng bản dịch có lẽ hơi tệ khiến tác phẩm bị hạn chế đi phần nào sự rành mạch và sáng sủa.

[Jana Light · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every teacher, thinker and writer should read this book. It's a very accessible discussion of what it means to think and what it means to be a true educator. Dewey also provides a framework for analyzing your own biases and assumptions and the way those have inappropriately influenced conclusions on the rightness or truth value of any issue.

READ THIS NOW!

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid nontechnical (but obviously dated) account of logical reasoning and its importance.

[Ugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four stars if I rate it on how well it achieves what it sets out to, which would be fair; but three stars based on how it achieves what I wanted it to, which is not fair at all. Sorry.

How We Think provides a thorough walk-through of what is involved in what I want to call reasoning - roughly: the sum of observing, sensibly extrapolating, testing and concluding. This is provided because Dewey thinks that teaching children to reason should be the aim of all schooling, because it equips people to get on in the world.

Which is quite interesting. But I was after tips on how I can find better subject matter for my thinking and tips for thinking more effectively and efficiently. Those I didn't really find, although there were a few nuggets:

"Thinking is not a case of spontaneous combustion; it does not occur just on 'general principles'. There is something specific which occasions and evokes it."

"To many persons trees are just trees [...] with perhaps recognition of one or two kinds [....] Such vagueness tends to persist and to become a barrier to the advance of thinking. Terms that are miscellaneous in scope are clumsy tools at best [...]"

As the above demonstrates, the book is in some respects very well written: you can be sure every word Dewey uses is used as intended. However, it is a bit long for what it is, and Dewey has a habit of writing sentences in a way that leaves you unsure where they're going until they end, or having to locate the word that confirms he's saying what you think he's saying, e.g. (not the best example but the first I found):

"To be forced to dwell consciously upon the accustomed is the essence of ennui; [...] On the other hand, what has been said in criticism of merely routine forms of skill, what has been said about the importance of having a genuine problem of introducing the novel, and of reaching a deposit of general meaning weighs on the other end of the scales."

I'll hang on to my copy, though: it may be more useful than I realise just yet.

[Myles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess it's a worthwhile read for a different perspective on thought, but it is a struggle to get through as it is so uninteresting. It also seems that this book could have been about half the length that it is since it tends to be repetitive.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Đọc vào dịp nghỉ lễ tránh dịch, đi làm, có cơ hội thực hành vài điều
Đọc lần 2, không hấp thụ được nhiều như lần đầu. Just like a tip of the iceberg

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought is imaginative or reflective: the latter being more meaningful than the former. Thought pushes from behind or pulls forward. Pre judgements are unsupported by survey evidence. Maintain a state of doubt while carrying on systematic and protracted inquiries. Education is training of the mind. Misinformation acquired by social influences must also serve as the means to replace that with more effectively accurate information. Learning authentically is best made possible by integrating it with deep play and exploration. Thinking can be thought of as a happening or doing. There are differences among the number and range of all suggestions. A person’s social status and roles prescribe according modes of thinking: engaging in a selection of orderly and continuous modes of occupation upon the formation of habits of thought. To think is to relate things to one another definitely; to put two and two together. Logic studies method. The essence of critical thinking is suspended judgment. Certain consequences follow of reasoning shows that an idea should be adopted. Induction is a double-movement toward suggestion and hypothesis and back to facts and data. Verified critical thinking uses both induction and deduction simultaneously as cross-checks. Scientific training teaches to suspend judgments and conclusions until the scope of data has worked out toward a wider collection, and in toward a more minuter scrutiny of details. Comparisons need contrasts to be logical. Reason and logic must guard against self-fulfilling prophecies.

[Phil Kariuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

It takes a certain perceptive ingenuity to articulate, as Dewey does, what it means to think properly. His prose is rather boring but his ideas are profound. The book may be banal for those already familiar with the rigorous scientific, and dare I say philosophical, methods. That sort of thinking is quite evident in children, as Dewey observes: "that the native and unspoiled attitude of childhood, marked by ardent curiosity, fertile imagination, and love of experimental inquiry, is near, very near, to the attitude of the scientific mind". The book, in my view is a powerful exposition on old cliches of: "pay attention,be engaged with society, be curious, stay doubtful, experiment, inquire thoroughly", spiced with thoughtful philosophical considerations.

Anyway, read Dewey! His ideas are timeless.

[Gutly Yegendurdyyev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a motivational book or a collection of success methods. However, it turned out to be an entirely scientific book about the mechanics of thinking. I listened to the free audiobook by Librivox. I appreciate their effort to provide books for free, but the listening experience was somewhat painful due to the monotone voice—like that of a robot. However, I also believe this reading style is acceptable for non-fiction works.

Overall, it's not a must-read book, but it's definitely worth your time.

[Michael Ecker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed. Dewey is widely considered one of the great educational reformers and psychologists in the 20th Century, and as I began this short book, I was excited to see why. Instead, I found Dewey’s writing to be often impenetrable, and his language stilted and very difficult to follow. His writing is needlessly complicated and difficult to grasp. Maybe I’m just obtuse. Plodding through the book was so frustrating!

There were some bright spots. For example, his discussion on experiential learning, and a baby’s development learning about the world around herself, were illuminating. But then his writing veered back to concepts that simply lost me. I remained submerged in confusion for long stretches.

I’ve heard his book, Democracy and Education, is more accessible. Let me know.

[Brent Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Dewey was born in 1859 and died in 1952 and was one of the founders of the philosophical movement known as pragmatism. He wrote the book, “How We Think”, that concludes that we can be taught to think well, but not the process. He tells us that thinking is automatic, like breathing and our heartbeats.

Dewey tells us that our knowledge is what we are aware of, and that how we consider those things are beliefs. He tells us that beliefs have consequences, and that knowledge is relative to its interaction with the world.

He says that, “Genuine freedom is intellectual; it rests in the trained power of thought, in the ability to turn things over and to look at matters deliberately”. Thinking is more important than what is being thought about. “If a man’s actions are not guided by thoughtful conclusions, then they are guided by inconsiderate impulse.”

He tells us that thinking is the act of believing and offers an example: “I think that it is going to rain tomorrow’ is equivalent to saying, ‘I believe that it is going to rain tomorrow."

Dewey tells us that the thinking process begins with a dilemma that suggests alternatives, indicating that thinking is evoked by confusion. He adds that schools do not need to teach information but should encourage stimulus that challenges external reality. The goal is to create curious and questioning minds that see wonder in science and philosophy, rather than monotony and routine in school.

Thinking doesn’t just happen, but it is evoked by something specific. Experience is a point of reference for the imagination. The mind reflects by looking for additional evidence to compare with new experiences. Good and bad thinking in some cases can be in effected by the amount of experience or prior knowledge. With nothing to draw on the result is uncritical thinking.
See Web Site for more on John Dewey and this book. www.connectedeventsmatter.com

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because, as a software engineering leader, I try to help more junior engineers think better. I tend to see the same problems over and over again during design reviews (proposals for building some piece of software): people aren't clear what the problem they're trying to solve is, they don't have clear success criteria for when it's been solved, and they don't provide alternatives to the solutions they propose. I thought this book might help me explain why these are necessary. The book does provide a concise summary of thinking, but it's aimed towards teachers. While mentoring is a lot like teaching, I suspect re-reading Dewey's Logic will be more useful.

Thinking involves 5 steps:
* A felt difficulty
* Its location and definition
* Suggestion of possible solution (inference)
* Development by reasoning of the bearings of the suggestion (reasoning)
* Further observation and experiment leading to its acceptance or rejection; this is, the conclusion of belief or disbelief

“The essence of critical thinking is suspended judgment; and the essence of this suspense is inquiry to determine the nature of the problem before proceeding to attempts at its solution. This, more than any other thing, transforms mere inference into tested inference, suggested conclusions into proof.”

[Ecbiv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I am coming from the age of the influenced, but most of the ideas that are laid out in this book are something I might consider obvious; however, this isn't to discount the validity and insight included with your purchase. I suppose the best part of John Dewey's How We Think is that he applies a detailed analysis, and provides the language with which we might represent ideas we might have understood, yet fail to communicate effectively.

[Anibal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree it is repetitive but argue that it's use of redundancy is there for reference for the reader to make the point clear. Overall Dewey's theory on thoughts and their origins make logical sense; to say otherwise is to admit incoherence. Eat that.

[Corbin Routier · Rating 5 out of 5]

"... this book also represent the conviction that... the native and unspoiled attitude of childhood, marked by ardent curiosity, fertile imagination, and love of experimental inquiry, is near, very near, to the attitude of the scientific mind."

"... thoughts grow up unconsciously and without reference to the attainment of correct belief."

"All forms of of artificial apparatus are intentionally designed modifications of natural things in order that they may serve better than in their natural estate."

"The substitution of scientific for superstitious habits of inference has not been brought about by an improvement in the acuteness of the senses... It is the result of regulation of the conditions under which observation and inference take place."

It is the business of education, "to cultivate deep seated and effective habits of discrimination tested beliefs from mere assertions, guesses, and opinions... and to ingrain into the individual's working habits methods of inquiry and reasoning appropriate to the various problems that present themselves. No matter how much an individual knows as a matter of hearsay and information, if he has not attitudes and habits of this sort, he is not intellectually educated... And since these habits are not a gift of nature... the main office of education is to supply conditions that make for their cultivation."

"... there is danger of the isolation of intellectual activity from the ordinary affairs of life... The abstract tends to become so aloof, so far away from application, as to be cut loose from practical and moral bearing... Because their knowledge has been achieved in connection with the needs of specific situations, men of little book-learning are often able to put to effective use every ounce of knowledge they possess; while men of vast erudition are often swamped by the mere bulk of their learning, because memory, rather than thinking [experience], has been operative in obtaining it."

"It is, indeed, a stupid error to suppose that arbitrary tasks must be imposed from without in order to furnish the factor of perplexity and difficulty... Every vital activity of any depth and range inevitably meets obstacles... a fact that renders the search for artificial or external problems quite superfluous."

[Peaches · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Thought affords the sole method of escape from purely impulsive or purely routine action” (p. 14).

This is definitely my favorite Dewey thus far, which is interesting since I'm into arts-based research and he does not directly address the arts in this. But this text is succinct, easy to follow, and filled with useful definitions for abstract ideas such as inquiry. I wish I'd read this ten years earlier.

This is useful for anyone in education, but would be especially useful for those in teacher prep. Dewey challenges the notions of students memorizing facts, shortcut methods to learning, and teachers mistakenly relying on their personalities to carry a subject instead of setting circumstances for students to be engaged with the subject. This book would lead to fruitful discussions for those who wish to improve their teaching.

My only issue is that he constantly refers to students as children, whereas much of what he states is applicable to all ages; consequently, some educators might dismiss the book if they taught older students, which would be a mistake!

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This post-Emersonian Emersonianism is difficult to read, for a number of reasons. It reminds me of the Marxist revolutionary writers who had so much hope they would change the system and yet nothing but abstract emotionally vacant passion for those goals. Because they had to pay homage to the system in order to have credibility. And then they wonder why their movement fails. And then is revived in opposition to its initial spirit by propagandists.

Like the failure of Marxism, Dewey’s attempt to critique academia by way of the same bells and whistles that academic bureaucracy is built with, is going to fail. He’s right about a lot. And it’s sad that we still have the same problems today. But if you have to suffer through the convolution of his wording to understand that academia is unnecessarily convoluted, then there’s a problem with your style. And that style is connected to the same historical memorabilia, the same academic paradigm claimed to be in question.

[Lingling · Rating 4 out of 5]

by John Dewey, 杜威（1859-1952）美国实用主义哲学代表人物，现代教育学创始人之一，其教育思想对20世纪上半叶中国教育界和思想界产生过重大影响。

本书短小精悍。养成良好的思考习惯在于不要先入为主得下结论（怀疑精神很重要），要掌握不同的方法来佐证或推翻原有假设。

为何要训练思维？洛克把人们错误的信念归类为三类：1.依赖他人（亲友，邻居，权威，从不独立思考）；2.以自己的利益/喜好为准，拒绝（自己和别人的）理性判断；3.过于狭隘的理性判断（容易固执己见）。

训练思维要有足够的素材，而提供素材最关键的是好奇心。“The wisest of the Greeks used to say that wonder is the mother of all science.” 大多数人的好奇心停留在对邻里八卦的层面上🤭

要保护好好奇心，避免因为过度兴奋而产生厌倦，例行公事而导致僵硬呆板，教条主义而因循守旧，或者浪费在琐碎的小事上。

学校教育提到了因材施教，鼓励学生独立思考而不是提供让老师满意的答案。学习分为提高技能，增长知识，和逻辑推理三类。每类都有陷阱，比如逻辑推理类容易与现实生活脱节，过于抽象；技能类容易机械性刷题（没有触及心智）；通过死记硬背增长知识成了目标，而不是获取智慧。

每个人都有具象思维和抽象思维的能力，学校教育应致力于寻求一种平衡，而不是过分强调其中之一。

科学思考的一大必要性在于思考者能从感官刺激和习惯中（人的很多动物本能比如对刺激的紧迫反应，《factfulness》书里提到很多这些本能）解脱出来，而这一解放也是进步的阶梯。

学校教育的一大危险是机械化程式化，剥夺了学生探索/主动思考的能力。观察能力的培养应该和解决问题联系起来，而不是孤立的作为最终目的。

老师的挑战同时也是慰藉在于激励学生的同时培养技能，有点像艺术家（技巧和美感缺一不可）。

[GW · Rating 4 out of 5]

How We Think is a classic work of educational philosophy written by John Dewey, published in 1910. Dewey established the Progressive movement in education which is still enforce today and was a huge proponent of the scientific method. The main theme of John Dewey’s How We Think is the importance of developing effective thinking skills and the role that education can play in fostering these skills. In his book, Dewey lays out his theory of reflective thinking, arguing that learning is a process of inquiry and problem-solving rather than a passive absorption of information. Not just a quondam belief. This book continues to influence contemporary education theory and practice, making How We Think an important tool for any prospective teachers and even for students of the world who want to understand and improve the meaning of a theory whose value is immeasurable as to where the education system has been and still is since the books inception. It's short but not an easy read.

[mavromou · Rating 5 out of 5]

En los conceptos que se describen en el libro parecen ser la bases fundacionales de otros conceptos más modernos como por ejemplo los involucrados en el aprendizaje basado en problemas.

También el autor trata un montón de conceptos similares que otros autores trataron con otras denominaciones por ejemplo lo que Dewey llama pensamiento reflexivo es muy parecido conceptualmente a lo que Pierce llama pensamiento abductivo.

Muchos de los conceptos también me remitieron al pensamiento divergente y al pensamiento creativo.

Creo que es una lectura obligada para todos aquellos que somos profes y que entendemos la docencia no como el simple hecho de "volcar" conocimiento en recipientes vacíos, sino como de promover la curiosidad y el gusto por el aprendizaje y el conocimiento...

[sam howie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I like most about the writing of Dewey is that he can take a simple idea, and not make it complex, but simply open it up. Everything in this book, and all of the other books of his I've read, are filled with simple ideas opened up. He offers practical levels of common sense, naturally why he was know as a pragmatist, which I personally find incredibly important. I feel this book in particular is as important for education, if not more important than Democracy and Education, or perhaps this book could be part one and D&E part two. Either way, they both still as relevant as ever.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the philosophical format of this treatise a bit hard to follow. It could be that the amount of unpacking that Dewey offers exceeded the necessity of the points that the seemed to ultimately make. Alternatively, it could well be that I'm a poor reader of philosophy and really just wanted to glean his major points. Suffice it to say, I may choose to admire Dewey from a distance from here on out.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading Dewey in college, so it is good to get back to what he had to say, especially about thinking, education, and teaching (my chosen profession). This book covers all of this and more. He is critical when he needs to be and encouraging when he talks about possibilities. Understanding our thought processes is important, I think, so a book such as this is quite a resource for those who wish to learn how we think and how we ought to think.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in bits and pieces - and though I struggled through parts, it was interesting to consider all we have learned about the brain and making thinking visible since it was written. Still much of Dewey's thinking and conjectures were spot on. Encouraging thinking, imagining and questioning are still my main purposes for teaching.

[Meilin · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF - I read half of this book and that was enough for me. It became more like required reading for a political science class than something I was genuinely interested in. I wanted to read something other than literary fiction, and maybe something that wouldn't be required for an introductory philosophy class.

[Jim Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conceptually I liked this book but it was. Slog. The format of this version all ran together and the language itself was the heaviness of a philosophy book.

Not sure what Dewey's ultimate end was. I was challenged in thinking about thought and reason but it was easy for my mind to wander while trying to follow his train.

[Paul LaFontaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is fascinating looking back in time when scientific perspective does not have our current advantages. When Dewey wrote this much of the molecular level study of the brain had not occurred. He does his best. A long book, and interesting. Recommend only to the enthusiast.