Dewey and European Education: General Problems and Case Studies

Although John Dewey's ideas have been of central interest in Anglo-Saxon philosophy and history of education, it is only recently that similar interest has developed in continental Europe. Deweyan philosophy of education has had to pass through national filters, which meant that it was received in national contexts of reform. The `German Dewey' was differently construed to the French, Italian, or English Dewey. This seems to change after 1989 (and the fall of socialist education) when interest in Dewey increased. The new political and philosophical interest in Dewey has to do with the lost alternative `socialism', and thus with the opening of Eastern Europe and the new problems of education within a worldwide community. This volume stresses two points. The original interest of European education in Dewey will be presented in case studies, concerning different national contexts and thus different Dewey's. What can be called the renewal of interest will be argued from different sides. It is our intention to show that today's interest in Dewey is not the remake of the reception within the different camps of progressive education. This volume will be of interest to philosophers of education, historians of education, and people engaged in the philosophy, history and the reception of Dewey.