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Jeffrey Becklund
Dr. Brendan OByrne
Senior Thesis
19 April 2010
Education and the Political Agents Ability to Judge
Education of the citizenry has been a priority for most developed nations, from
ancient to contemporary times. Looking at Plato and John Dewey as extreme examples, it
is my aim to demonstrate how each philosophy defines the structure of a nation by
developing a citizens ability to make sound political judgments via that nations
education process.
For Plato, who is critical of the democracy,1
the education will eventually
distinguish a single rulerthe hypothetical philosopher kingwho will be defined by his
ability to distinguish doxa, that which seems, from episteme, that which is. Only a select
few, those who are capable of developing this skill, will become guardians of the polis,
and only one, the best suited among them, will be fit to rule. In this sense, Platos
education exists to turn the philosophers mind and soul toward the citys need for just
decision making, allowing those who are equipped to face the nature of political burdens
they must meet. This is accomplished in terms of Platos students ability to apprehend
the Goodthe ethical standard and source of truth which manifests within the variables
of any choice.
Dewey, on the other hand, understands education as the process which enhances
any citizen's particular ability to continue learning. This is the act of restructuring the
1 Although Plato and Dewey are working with slightly different definitions of democracy, Plato claims this
governments unilateral freedom will result in chaos, as not all citizens are equally equipped to make good
judgments which are capable of embodying an essentially just state.
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identifications which people make in relation to their experiences. Learning is the process
which continually enhances a persons understanding of their environment and social
groups, and the process of perpetually discovering new ways to ensure the continuity of
growth. This allows each citizen to actively define the democracy which they live
withina system of government which Western nations have not been capable of
actualizing in its most fundamental form. A true democracy, for Dewey, will require that
each citizen is capable and willing to fulfill their role as active and cooperative leaders
within the national communitya process which requires more than a citizens passive
consent, or willingness to be represented. In order to avoid placing excess power in the
hands of select decision makers, which will result in widespread inequity and political
injustice, citizens must learn to learn and work dynamically, actively defining their own
nation in every way they can. This will require that each individual has the ability to
reconsider, or immediately re-learn, the way in which he knows a thing. In this sense,
each citizens ability to make sound democratic judgments from day to day is determined
by his potential for learning, capacity to identify with other citizens, and power to adapt
their decision making faculties within a new environment.
The fundamental difference between these theorieswhat makes either notion so
extreme, and what sets them so far apartis either philosophers opinion regarding
human nature. Given power, and the freedom to use it, will human beings simply act to
fulfill their own interests, or work toward what is collectively good for the nation as a
whole? Plato provides an argument which is highly skeptical of human beings en masse
and the nations communal ability to sustain itselfto do what eventually is in its own
interest. Likewise, he believes that individuals who are not naturally fit to understand the
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Good will misuse political power in the interest of accumulating pleasures and amassing
whatseems good for themselves. The result is that Platos city can only best be ruled by a
philosopher with the ability to discern that which is just, and who is willing to deny
themselves the endless and destructive pleasures which become available to those with
such enormous power. Dewey, quite contrarily, believes that human beings are
fundamentally good, to an extreme. Given that each citizens learning abilities are
properly developed, he believes that they will work cumulatively and harmoniously
becoming a complex network of cooperative social groups which utilize each individual's
skills as a learner, further defining a democracy which its citizens are endlessly learning
to exemplify.
It is not my intention to show that either Plato or Deweys philosophy is more
effective, better equipped, or superior to the other, as I believe each is particularly suited
to fit its time period and political context. Instead, I am able to demonstrate how a
common essence of education has been identified in both cases. While political ideals and
subsequent conceptions of education have changed with circumstance, the outcome has
remained the same: the student-citizens ability to judge.
Platos judgment: the just decision
Platos aim in education is to create a ruler who can make just decisions for the
polis, not only in the interest of the citys security, economic and social stability, etc., but
because Plato believes that the notion of justice, in whatever form it takes, is desirable
simply for its own sake [358a]. In this sense, the ruler who is the product of Platos
education is the individual best suited to create and maintain a city which is modeled
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after a divine image, a notion which is highly desirable within its own terms. Plato is
therefore faced with developing a notion of justice which will be compatible with an
education of the Goodan ethical standard which, when applied, will represent more
than the subjective pleasantness or pain associated with particular judgments.
Specifically, it is the challenge issued to Socrates by Adeimantus and Glaucon in book II,
which helps Plato clarify that justice is an objective quality which can be understood as
more than an outcome which changes from case to case. This is also the stage upon
which he introduces the method of his educationhow the philosopher student will go
about seeking justice for the polis. This is how Platos education develops the ability to
differentiate between a decision which concerns what seems just vs. what seems unjust,
from an individuals point of view, and a decision which is made either in light of, or
contrary to what is actually just or unjust, in the divine, or metaphysically true sense.
Glaucon begins with a definition of justice which ignores the possibility for a
single objective standard of ethical considerationthe idea that to experience
wrongdoing, pain, or injury, is to experience injustice; while the individual who stands to
benefit, even if at the expense of another party, is experiencing justice [358e]. This is
Glaucons recapitulation of the Thrasymachan notion of legal positivismthe idea that a
political agents action is just when that agent acts in the preservation of its own power
[338c]. This implies that justice can be applied beyond the individual, and that it is also a
constituent property of the city itself [435b]. Glaucons first definition of justice,
therefore becomes Platos notion of what is most commonly accepted by the general
citizenrya sort of ethical status quo, and backdrop against which his idea of the Good is
formed. This also represents the general perspective of prisoners in the cave simile, and
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the general notion of justice which the philosopher turned politician must work to
counteract.
This, along with Glaucons second conception, which posits the notion of justice
as being only compulsorily worthwhilethat the only good reason to avoid injustice is to
avoid being caught and punished [360c], is set in contrast to the third, which is the notion
developed via Platospaedia: In the scenario that a seemingly just but utterly unjust man
cheats his way through a long life of praise and pleasure, while a totally just but seemly
unjust man is put to death after a short life of squalor and pain, Plato implies that the
second man might somehow have lived a better lifethat in order to understand the
nature of justice, a person must somehow distinguish between what seems to be, and
what actually is unjust or just [362a]. It is this distinction which the philosopher student
will explore, and which differentiates between the apparent world of illusion and the
more elusive, but ever-present form of the Good.
This idea is elaborated upon, and distinguished to a greater level of detail in book
VII, as Socrates and Adeimantus arrive at a definition of what is just, as any instance of a
thing which best coheres to its divine form, or ultimate nature of that thing [501b].
Therefore, a good judgment is one which results in a thing being made to best represent
its form. This, of course, requires that Plato sketch the characteristics of a philosopher
who is capable of understanding these forms as well as the immediate worlds imperfect
relationship with those forms, and who is best fit to define a nation which does justice to
itself.
This entails a consideration of the education which is capable of producing such a
person. Because Socrates and the dialecticians are able to agree upon a definition of the
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philosopher as the person who loves and is devoted to knowing the whole truth about a
given thing [475e], they are able to conclude that someone who is so passionate about
getting in touch with the true nature of reality will naturally develop a faculty for
determining that reality. This is the philosophers capability for distinguishing between
incomplete particular examples of a truth, and complete truth-ideas or forms of things. A
form represents the whole nature of something when that thing or quality is present in
every instance or manifestation of that thing in the immediately occurring world [490b].
Once again, Plato presents his reader with a distinction between doxa, what seems, and
episteme, what is knowable. In this case, the distinction is more than an insight into the
definition of a single term, but the fundamental structure of Platos theory of knowledge,
which embodies the basis of the philosophers education. This is the divine structure or
blueprint [500e] which eventually leads the philosopher to conceive of justice as more
than instances of benefit or harm as experienced by particular subjects. Instead, a nation,
for the philosopher, is just or unjust in the sense that its decisions represent an
ontologically grounded notion of reality, which become illuminated to the philosopher in
light of the Good.
But what is the nature of the philosopher students motivation for turning from the
realm of illusion toward the Good? If Adiemantus and Glaucon are to accept this
definition of a philosopher, a clearer notion of what it means to experience love of
knowledge must be explained. For Plato, any human motivation is the result of erotic
identification, a distinctively human faculty which generates affinity toward things. This
creates a simulated kind of optimism, the extent of which is particular each individual in
the case of each entity they become acquainted with. Socrates describes the notion of
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Platonic love as the state of seeing something as praiseworthy as a whole, in all of its
arrangements [474c]a persons inclination to only see the good aspects about that
thing. While each student begins life with, and develops different sorts of desires, the
philosopher students desire has become especially oriented toward the truth. This is what
will eventually perpetuate their willingness to learn, especially as more formal education
practices begins.
It is important to note that Plato understands the nature of this education as a
process which, from the beginning of a students life, cannot simply be reduced to the
forceful introduction of knowledge, or skill sets, into the mind, as if the mind were an
empty container waiting to be filled. The actual learning act, for Plato, does not occur
between the student and an educator, but between the soul and its exposure to the Good.
In this sense, a students mechanism for learning the standard of reality upon which
sound judgments can be made, is more than a process of the intellect alone. An
individuals soul-type2
defines the extent to which that student will be capable of
appreciating the meaning and utility of truth as his minds rational capabilities matures.
Socrates describes this metaphorically in terms of the cave simile, qualifying the
education process effectiveness in terms of the students innate capacity or willingness
to see and understand the source of truth, given that they have an opportunity to be turned
toward the Good [518c]. The Goodthe end of all endeavor, the object on which every
heart is set [505e], in this sense, becomes the ultimate intellectual, spiritual, and physical
destination toward which the calculating mind, the understanding soul, and the physical
body, must be exposed. Each individual, like seeds of different qualities, will thus have
2 In the foundation myth [414d-415c], Socrates metaphorically proposes the arrangement of citizens into a
three tiered class system, based upon their soul-type, or inborn ability to rule.
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different potentials to grow toward the sun. It is the education, therefore, which will
provide each type with correspondingly appropriate qualities of soil in which to root.
Once the philosopher student has seen and understood the nature of the Good, and
has developed their ability to decide between instances of reality and illusion; once the
philosopher is capable of just decision making, and is fit to rule; how does Plato account
for the individuals ability to choose between leadership and a life of academic pleasure?
Having reached the outside of the cave, the philosopher will remember that his fellow
prisoners who remain below are committed to the idea that justice is nothing more than
what benefits a given subject, and that the Thrasymachan notion of justice still prevails.
Given that the philosopher chooses to descend back down into the cave in order to
educate or rule, to help another soul become exposed to the vision they have had or
restructure the way life in the cave is governed so that it best reflects the real world they
have seen, there are several mortal dangers they will face. Within the actual world, Plato
predicts that Socrates philosopher student turned ruler may very well appear to be an
overly idealistic fool upon the stage of politics. Given that the prospective philosopher
ruler is vastly outnumbered, and will potentially be overpowered by the frightened
masses who have no wish to change their ways [517a], there is little guarantee that the
philosophers just intentions will guarantee their safety or success. Plato also takes into
account the risks incurred by other politicians who lack an understanding of the Good
the puppet-masters or illusion makers who captivate the prisoners with shadows and
illusory images [514b]. Given that the philosopher student turned philosopher ruler
attempts to extricate those who are doing an inferior job, there is a good chance they will
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be destroyed by reasonless autocrats, hungry to consume anyones power, and unwilling
to relinquish their posts.
Plato contends that the same sense in which that the philosopher was motivated to
leave the cave in the first place (going through the difficult transition from darkness into
light), the notion of Platonic love, will eventually encourage those who are just to
abandon their enlightened yet selfish existence outside the cave. Instead of simply
relishing in the pleasures of knowledge and reality [519c] outside the cave, within the
realm of truth, the philosopher who is truly fit to rule will sacrifice their own desires by
leading the nation of prisoners, and the nation itself, closer toward its divine form. The
true philosophers choice, in this sense, is itself only an illusion of choiceif the
philosopher did not carry out the action which was just, they would betray the nature of
what is right, which they professed to embody and identify as the object of their love. By
this same logic, the true philosopher could never truly assent to be ruled by the non-
philosopher, as doing so would go against the divine nature of truth as manifest by
humans in the world, and negate the very thing which they claim to be.
Dewey and education as perpetual growth
Over the course of several thousand years, the nature of the society in which a
philosophy of education is made to functionthe values and belief systems which are
central to that societywill have changed. These radically different conceptions of what
it means to learn, can thus be understood in terms of their different socio-political
contexts. Even for a highly un-Platonic philosophy such as Deweys, which is grounded
in the idea that each individuals learning process can develop exponentially in order to
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sustain a healthy democracy, the education is a process which is fundamentally geared
toward creating citizens capable of the judgments which will sustain that democracy. The
reason why learners who are capable of perpetual growth via Deweys ongoing learning
process can make the decisions which the real democracy requires of its active citizens, is
their dynamic ability to adapt and learn what is required of them in any situationto
identify with a new problem, a new setting, or another social group, in order to discover
or experience a new solution.
A major way in which this differs from what Plato had in mind has to do with
Deweys background as a radical liberal humanist. Although enlightenment philosophers
such as John Locke were not the first to introduce ideas concerning an individual
humans intrinsic value or natural rights, they played a significant role in popularizing
these notions within European and early American social and political environments
during the late 17th
and 18th
century. For instance, Lockes idea that the a governments
central purpose concerns the preservation of certain human rights which all people are
naturally entitled to, conflicts with Platos belief that human soul-types distinctly specify
an individuals potential, and thus the political representation they are entitled to. In this
sense, the value of each individual within a society is central to Lockes political
philosophy, and entails the notion that government is only legitimate in the instance that
every citizen has given their consent to be governed. This is the idea that because human
beings are created equal, that the structure of the nation must be subsequently and
equitably defined by each individual. Other philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau
and Thomas Pane also contributed to Lockes notion of democratic equality, in this way.
This, in combination with German enlightenment philosophers such as Kant and Hegel,
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who suggest that the chief function of a state is educational in nature (Dewey 96, 1916),
eventually contributes to Deweys notion of a democracy as the government which is
defined by the extent to which it provides educational freedom, and each citizens ability
to learn:
A society which makes provision for participation in its good of all its
members on equal terms which secures flexible readjustment of its
institutions through interaction of the different forms of associated life
is in so far democratic. (Dewey 99, 1916)
Deweys inquiry into education is based upon the idea that It is the nature of
human life to strive to continue in being (Dewey 9, 1916). This is perhaps Deweys
most basic claim concerning educationthat learning is not supplemental to or
differentiated form our regular lives. It is Deweys goal to posit that an education is not
simply something which only occurs within a classroom or as a product of
institutionalized instruction, but that it is a kind of experience which is persistently
present in any human activities which in some way involves one generations life as a
dynamic translation into the next. In other words, education is the very essence of
humanitys continuous effort to sustain itself, and eventually replace itself with equal or
greater instances of life. This represents the ongoing and unending learning act.
Because this process of learning as human continuity on a global scale requires
groups of people, working and learning how to best perpetuate themselves, together, it is
no surprise that the classroom in which Deweys education occurs is the phenomenon
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known as the human social group. Education, for Dewey, is a process by which social
groups maintain their continuous existence (Dewey 321, 1916) by learning from, and
identifying with each others experiences. Because multiple subjects will often undergo
similar learning processes within a shared environment, if two subjects recognize and
understand that they have both identified with the same learning experience, they have
gained what Dewey refers to as mutual intelligibility (Dewey 15, 1916)an exchange of
meaning through experience which forms the basis of, or potential for cooperation within
a social group. As identifications of this sort continue forming, increasingly complicated
networks of social understanding begins to form, eventually developing and defining the
moral and functional standards of a democracy. Because the role of each individual, as a
learner, within the greater social network is as imperative as any other, democracy is the
only form of government which provides freedom to the extent which is necessary. This
allows for each individual to collectively define the nations greater whole (Dewey 87,
1916). Deweys idyllic democracy, therefore, occurs when each citizen, as part of a large-
scale social community, actively participates in all activities which effect the lives of
others within that social community (Pring 118).
In contrast to Platos notion that the training of guardians, specifically the
philosopher king, is a static kind of aim which Platos education is looking to achieve, it
is important to discern that this notion of a standard aim is incompatible with Deweys
philosophy of education, as it suggests that a subjects learning process has some fixed
end point, or limit, which the continuity of human life could feasibly exist beyond. In this
sense, Deweys conception of learning, or the perpetual education, must be distinguished
from that which is simply a result. For Dewey, a good aim surveys the present state of
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experience of pupils, and [embodies] a tentative plan of treatment, keeps the plan
constantly in view and yet modifies it as conditions develop (Dewey 105, 1916). In this
sense, an aim, or perhaps more accurately, the ongoing plan for education is not a single
act with a single outcome, but a specific yet malleable philosophy of learning which
needs to be adapted as its context and constituents change over time. This ongoing
education plan is composed of, and not to be confused with, the particular motivations
which seek individual results from experience to experience. Dewey stresses that while
each of these motivations and results embodies an instance of experimentation which
eventually becomes part of the learning process, that they do not achieve the status of
conclusions, and merely represent effects. In the same sense, a results motivation is not
equivalent to the question which has initially caused such a motivation (Dewey 101,
1916). In other words, in order to account for meaning which is gleaned from a series of
experiences, there must be a larger body of theory which can account for the fact that a
transformation of the student has occurred (Dewey 42, 1916). Therefore, an ongoing and
dynamic educationrather than isolated motivations and results must be supposed.
This sort of tentative plan for learning will provide the potential for further
learning experiences given that a few constituents are met. Firstly, Dewey believes that a
good education cannot be planned outside the bounds of intelligent reasoningthat an
educator, or individual who is considering the future of an education, must be able to
rationally consider the nature of the context and environment in which the education will
take place. If a plan for learning extends beyond what a student is able to visualize, or if
the components of a plan are subject to terms which cannot possibly be known at a given
time, then there is no intelligible reason why these factors should affect a modification of
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the current experience (Dewey 104, 1916). In this sense, an educator or self-educators
notion of hypothetical factors should not weigh in too heavily upon the methods which
re-define the ways we learn. While foresight, to a limited extent can help avoid
consequences which will hinder the education process, the educators primary attention
must remain centered around the learners intrinsic activities and needs (Dewey 108,
1916) at the time of the immediate experience.
Therefore, a Platonic education which aims to turn the student toward vision of
the Gooda universal ethical and metaphysical standardis for Dewey an extremely
limiting idea. Besides suggesting that this represents a distinct goal at which point the
students learning-growth process might end, Dewey would suggest that a concept such
as the Good is too abstract. If the subject matter of what a student is trying to learn
extends beyond the immediate context of their experience, Dewey believes that the
student will become disconnected with the learning processwill be overly concerned
with some distant end instead of identifying with new method and horizon ofhow they
plan to learn (Dewey 109, 1916).
While Dewey has redefined the way a student learns to make political choices, so
that it corresponds to the values and characteristics of their nation, the ability to make
such a decisioneither in Deweys democracy or Platos Kallipolisremains essentially
the outcome in either case. Thus, the differences between either philosophy of education
can be reduced to differences between the types of nations which the citizens ability to
choose is required to define. Instead of learning how to distinguish between what is just
and unjusta notion which Dewey thinks is based upon a distant and detrimentally
abstract notion of the Goodlearning citizens will constantly discover new methods to
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adapt their experience, and plan for future experiences in relation to the social groups
they live within. For Dewey, this is the key to total participation in a democratic society.
Paideias process: developing dialectic intelligence
In order to completely understand how either Plato or Deweys philosophy of
learning creates a students ability to make nation defining and sustaining political
judgments, the process by which their students learnthe educations themselvesmust
likewise be accounted for. Platos distinction that the education is a process incurred by
the polis, and not simply a naturally occurring activity, is implied as the philosopher
descends back into the cave. While the ideal philosopher will ultimately aspire to return
to society and become king, contrary to what he may desire, Plato identifies another
purpose as to why the enlightened lover of the Good must rejoin the prisoners within the
cavethe education. Even if the philosopher in question is the best suited to lead, their
mortality dictates that another philosopher rulerhopefully one who is equally equipped
to discern that which is justeventually must take his place.
In books VII and VIII, Plato faces a problem. If the standard of what is Good
which the citys first generation of rulers will embody is to be maintained, an
understanding of that standard must be passed on to a new generation of minds, some of
which are also born with the ability to rule. Toward the end of the cave simile, Socrates
identifies a second danger associated with the philosophers decent. In the same way that
the light of truth temporarily blinds the mind of the philosopher who reaches the surface,
the process of readjusting to the darkness ofto horaton within the cave will hinder his
ability to teach if he descends too hastily, or attempt to completely unshackle his
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compatriots at once [518a]. This is the idea that if educationthe turning of the students
mind toward the lightis do be carried out properly, it must be approached with caution
and forethought. Thus, the education is not approached simply in terms of a naturally
occurring act, but as a profession or a technical skill [518d].
In the same sense that the educator must work slowly to adjust themselves into the
students world, Plato is faced with the issue of gradually weaning the students minds
eye toward truth gradually and in stages, manifesting the maturation of the students
intellect through physical, cultural and behavioral growth. The whole body is turned, the
same way the mind as a whole must be turned [518c].
Plato has Socrates equate the
education to the turning of the entire body rather than simply the students vision, so that
the person comes fully equippedthe entire individual working its way up with the
mind, toward the realm of knowledge, and down again once the vision has taken place.
This idea of harmony between a students physical and intellectual development [412a] is
crucial. If any aspect of the philosopher becomes disconnected from the true form of a
generally well developed human being, his identification with the Good will likewise be
somewhat disjointed or deluded.3
As a result, such a rulers ability to made a just
distinction and decision based upon the form of the Good will be somewhat diminished,
making the individual a less than ideal candidate for the job.
What begins as a physical education in the gymnastic activitieswrestling and
dancing which develops the body in a practical way, and the skills of combat and war
which make use of these developments, is eventually complemented by a training in
music, and verse which is recited to the lyre. Besides practically training the Platonic
3 Glaucon describes an example of this in book III. While excessive emphasis on athletics (physical
training) produces an excessively uncivilized type, / a purely literary (intellectual) training leaves a man
indecently soft [410d].
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student in particular skills which he will need to survive and function within the
communityskills which will help defend the city, help citizens function socially,
identify with the nations culture and maintain its history, etc.each of these activities
will contribute to an early habituation of what is naturally Good about a thing (Morrow
300). While each instance of an activity done well provides only one example or instance
of the universal form of the Good, this process, which begins even before birth as the
infant is rocked by its mother within the womb, will develop a natural inclination toward
Goodness. Eventually, this ability to intuit the nature of the Good will be helpful when a
more formal education in mathematics and the dialectic begins.
The ability to equate one activity, skill, or virtue from another does more than
transition the laboring classes toward their roles as merchants, tradesmen, farmers, etc.
The philosopher rulers education considers the ability to calculate the terms of different
things for the sake of knowledge and not [only] for commercial ends [525d], which
equips the guardian and ruling class with an ability to reasondianoia. This is essential
to the leader who must administrate a nation, and the strategist in war. Most importantly
this leads the philosopher student toward dialectic skillsnoesis, which will develop his
ability to discern the true forms of things from their appearances, and eventually forms a
sound basis for judgment in terms of what is and is not just. This is the very apogee of the
philosopher kings education, at which point the student masters the ability to grasp by
pure thought what the Good is in itself [at the] summit of the intellectual realm [532b].
Although the philosopher will continue his work as a student of the Good, grasping at the
essential nature of things as a lifetime of discussion, argumentation, and consideration
unfolds, enhancing his ability to make the right decisions as he is eventually inclined to
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rule, this represents the final stage of the formal education process. While Dewey would
argue that this implies a learning plan with a static, or result oriented aim, (the result
being the initial dialectic vision as the minds eye first glimpses at the sun) Plato does
not require Deweys dynamic continuum of learning acts since each citizen will not need
to define their own role within a democracy. Therefore, the dialectics status as a highest
degree of [intellectual] understanding [534d] will not limit the philosopher rulers ability
to become more aware of the true form of the Good, and its instances within world ofto
horaton. This leads me to conclude that Platos and Deweys philosophies of education
can simultaneously represent valid tools in developing their political agents/agents
judgmentthe ability to assess a situation, and decide.
Deweys schoolcommunities of shared experience
Dewey agrees with Platos notion that that the formal act of education must
consist of more than a transmission of skills and information from one person, or
generation, to another (Pring 31), as if the mind was merely a receptacle for knowledge,
which can be filled with facts or data. The traditional education, what Dewey
describes as a series of institutionalized standards of proper conduct [and units of
subject matter which are] handed down from the past, (Dewey 18, 1938) does not satisfy
a students need for an experience which develops their ability to grow and successfully
interact with more complicated experiences in the futurethe experiences which will
define their ability to play an active role in the democracy.
Because the traditional student is being force-fed the results of another subjects
experience, Dewey is able to identify two reasons why this sort of education is merely a
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way of asserting an authoritys control, and is not a process by which students are given
genuine opportunities for learning. First of all, an education which simply asserts facts as
right or wrong suggests that learning is a process by which the student must somehow
motivate themselves to produce specific results, without actually considering why a given
result is right or wrong. As I have explained already, Deweys notion of a dynamic
learning plan consists of a students ability to conjecture appropriate questions regarding
their experience, and propose a spectrum of possible conclusionsthe components of a
choice. A second major flaw involves the traditional students disconnect from
experiential learning. Because such a curriculum is imposed from above and / outside
the student, embodying the adults knowledge and subject matter (Dewey 18-19, 1938),
the facts and knowledge which the educator is trying to pass on represent a disconnected
experience of a social group which the student is not a member of. Because the student
does not understand this foreign, and possibly outdated experience, and is not allowed to
share in that experience, the state of learning becomes one of passive submission, rather
than a reconsideration and reorganization of the issues and challenges within their world
(Pring 32).
This is a fairly extreme critique of current educational institutions. Because
Deweys notion of democracy requires that its citizens are able to organize [their]
experiences and make connections in order to anticipate or deal with future experiences,
(Pring 120) any nation which claims to be, or is interested in becoming a true democracy
must fundamentally reconsider how they think about and administrate their schools. This
is not to say that Dewey doesnt believe that a formal education is necessary. Because
the natural or native impulses of the young do not agree with the life-customs of the
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group into which they are born (Dewey 39, 1916), the society requires some mechanism
to attract the young learners interest and encourage them to begin forming the
relationships which eventually embody the democracy. For Dewey, schools are shared
communities. Ideally, they will be designed so that the students will become optimally
inclined to identify with one and others unique learning experiences, eventually creating
the students first major social group at such a scale. This represents a significant step
toward the students ongoing learning processes within larger social communities within
which the student will eventually be required to interact, communicate, and make
decisions or judgments.
Therefore, it is imperative for Dewey that the school reflects the ideal
configuration of its corresponding national democratic institution in every way possible.
For instance, standardized testing which grades its students into classes based upon their
ability to absorb externally determined curriculawhat too often simply evaluates a
students ability to memorize a number of factsdiscourages the student from actively
inquiring about their world, distracts the student from any learning experience which
actually occurs, and puts a child at odds with their fellow students whose shared
experiences they are meant to be identifying with. Instead of learning to cooperate and
work in tandem with other members within a democratic society, they are conditioned
into a state of perpetual competitiontrying to achieve a higher rather than lower social
class rankings, or statuses (prescribed in terms of grades) rather than learning how to
work together, and adapting each others particular skills toward the interests of the
society at large. The same holds true for any group or function within the school which is
meant to distinguish particular students as superior, or more qualified to represent the
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whole; such as student government groups or class representatives, and academic
achievement titles such as the National Honors Society students in the United States.
Even cheerleading or sports clubs, which often, somewhat arbitrarily, designate particular
individuals as social figureheads or standards of popularity and social success, can
represent class-based social boundaries which limit each students ability to interact with
other learners and share a common experience through which larger, and completely
equitable communities will form.4
In this sense, Deweys philosophy of education and the nation which it defines
via the citizenrys ability to learn and decideare theoretically in harmony with one and
other by virtue of a judgments learning-act. In this same sense, the relationship between
Platos education of the philosopher king and the polis which he must serve, revolves
around the judgment capabilityexpounding that which is and is not just. I will conclude
that it is in this sense that even radically defined and differentiated notions of education
have, and will continue to fulfill a common and irrevocable political need: the power
behind a nations faculty for judgmentthe ability to decide.
4Again, this is indicative of Deweys extreme optimism in regards to human naturethat given a genuine
opportunity to work together toward a mutually beneficial democratic society, such as the Deweyite school
system, individual humans will be willing to cooperate in the interest of that society, rather than simply
trying to assert themselves in order to reach the top.
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