杜威教育哲学论述的方法

On Methods in Dewey’s Philosophy of Education

As one of the greatest philosophers of education in the past century， how did John Dewey develop his philosophical arguments on education? Dewey didn’t give any direct statements in this respect. Rereading his representative work Democracy and Education， we could conclude that he comprehensively used the methods of phenomenology， genetic， concept analysis， dialectics and reflective thinking etc. Phenomenological method helped Dewey get rid of the trap of dualism in philosophical tradition， and set up the ontological priority of intentional action in his philosophical arguments. Genetic method illuminated the significant influence of Darwinism on Dewey， and made his arguments to be more close to real life through emphasis on the becoming， continuity， and situationality of each event. Several approaches to concept analysis helped Dewey to overcome some traditional weakness concerning conceptions and their usages， and he defined many concepts in a new way from the standpoint of pragmatism. Based on the above methods， Dewey took use of dialectics in a different way from Hegel， discussing the relationships between concepts referring to the related actions and their social situation instead of confining to the abstract world. As for the method of reflective thinking， it begins from the real puzzles or problems in human life， and integrates the scientific and philosophical and practical spirit， which eliminates boundary between science and philosophy， the discrepancy between theory and practice， and the opposition between knowledge and action， standing for the most distinctive characteristic of Dewey’s philosophy of education.