Blogging Dewey – 1-11-06 Roundup
Some short hits today: At the Wind Farm, Chris makes an analogy between the Alito confirmation hearings and Dewey’s Experience and Education. It’s an interesting post, although I wonder how Alito would feel about being used as an example to back up Dewey. I also think Chris may be a bit hasty in lumping Dewey and other progressive educators together.
Also in the irony department, there’s an essay at FrontPageMag.com that talks about hearings held by the state House at Temple University, about the perceived problem of liberal bias among university professors.Thomas Ryan cites a Temple prof by name as a particularly egregious example, and then quotes Dewey in his role as a founder of the American Association of University Professors in order to support his claim that professors should not push a political viewpoint on their students. My own thought is that at the college level, it is impossible to get a full “balance” in any individual course, just because a professor has to select what material to teach, and no one can teach everything. (That said, some teachers certainly make more of an effort to do so than others.) And one of the things that makes higher education so potentially rewarding is to encounter the unique voices of particular professors, learn from them, and challenge them. Of course, instructors need to play fair and not do things like penalize students who disagree with them. I tend to think that for the most part they do, but it’s clear that there are folks who disagree with that assessment.
Nimble Jack at Camshafts talks about Louis Menand’s Metaphysical Club, pragmatism, Habermas, and democracy. Worth checking out.
At The Modo Blog, fmodo examines the argument of a conservative in the 40s about moral absolutes. I admit to being pleasantly surprised to see the blog of a self-described “moderate Republican physician” approvingly cite Dewey’s system of ethics.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.