Plato vs. Dewey: Education, Democracy, and Human Purpose

Plato and Dewey on Education: Universals vs. Empiricism

Dewey's approach to education is based on the scientific method that grew out of the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment. It builds, in effect, on the theory of William of Ockham, who denied the existence of universals (Weaver, 1984). Thus, Dewey and most modern educators tend toward an emphasis on empiricism and "facts," whereas Plato emphasizes the existence of universals and how true knowledge and true virtue are bound up in the understanding of those universals. As Plato shows in Phaedrus, "a man must have intelligence of universals, and be able to proceed from the many particulars of sense to one conception of reason; — this is the recollection of those things which our soul once saw while following God — when regardless of that which we now call being she raised her head up towards the true being" (pp. 417–418). Implicit in this assertion is the sense that God is the source of all things, and that no knowledge is worth having if it does not ultimately join one to God or grant the so-called beatific vision. For Dewey and the Enlightenment thinkers, empirical science largely displaced any notion of God as responsible for reality, and education came to focus on what could be "proved" rather than what could be "intuited" or "recollected," as Socrates and Plato preferred to say.

God, Truth, and the Soul in Platonic Education

For Plato, the intelligence and the life of the soul are intimately united; a human soul is human precisely because it possesses intelligence of the universals within it — something animals do not share. This philosophical outlook was also held by the medieval Catholic and Christian world. With the Protestant Reformation, however, a substantial break with the past was effected. The Old World's emphasis on scholasticism — exemplified by the work of Aquinas — gave way to a new modern world whose educators, including Dewey, stressed "nature" as inherently good. This concept traces back to Rousseau's The Social Contract — "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains" (p. 1) — an allusion to the chains of the Old World's doctrine of fallen nature. Modern educators set about codifying a new way of knowing the world, one that avoided discussion of God, a subject that had caused considerable tension across Europe for many years.

Nonetheless, for Plato, God is essential. In Phaedrus, God is what Socrates calls "the true being" from which all knowledge and intelligence flow. Souls that have not seen God before do not "pass into the human form," for God does not place a "soul which has never seen the truth" into the body of a man (p. 417). When a person recognizes truth on earth, he is simply recollecting in his soul what it has seen before — namely, that all particular things share one reason or cause, which is God. This kind of assertion makes many modern educators uncomfortable in an era of political correctness, and so Plato is set aside in favor of someone less "offensive" and controversial, like Dewey.

Plato's Rejection of Democracy: Objective Truth and Euthyphro

Plato's insistence upon an objective, transcendental reality to which man must submit — rather than one shaped to suit man's preferences — is one major idea that led him to reject democracy. Democracy does not place objective truth at the top, as a philosopher-king would; instead, it places the majority vote at the top, which in practice often means only the majority of those who bother to vote. In Euthyphro, Plato voices this demand for objective truth through Socrates. Euthyphro believes he is in the right when he prosecutes his own father for wrongdoing. Socrates asks what piety is — what is pleasing to the gods — and Euthyphro can only offer a subjective answer: piety is whatever he himself is doing. Socrates subtly mocks this logic by suggesting that whatever Euthyphro does must therefore be good and worthy of imitation. Euthyphro recognizes the absurdity but, rather than admit he might be wrong, he rushes off, comfortable in his ignorance and subjectivity.

Socrates, by contrast, insists on an objective standard — a universal law that applies to everyone, not a separate law for each individual to determine for himself. When individuals set themselves up as judges, they usurp a role that belongs to God alone, who is above everything and is, in effect, the author of the truth written in human hearts (Plato, Euthyphro; Plato, Apology).

References

Aristotle. (n.d.). Ethics. MIT. Retrieved from http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html

Plato. (2010). The dialogues, vol. 1. Online Library of Liberty. Retrieved from http://lf-oll.s3.amazonaws.com/titles/111/Plato_0131-01_EBk_v6.0.pdf

Plato. (n.d.). The Republic. MIT. Retrieved from http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html

Rousseau, J. (2012). Social contract. NY: Courier.

Weaver, R. (1984). Ideas have consequences. IL: University of Chicago.