John Dewey and Reflective Practice

Paper Summary:

This paper describes John Dewey's concept of democracy and democratic virtues, as a continuance of his theories on democracy. The paper also draws on his conclusions to show that open-mindedness, as a democratic virtue, contributes to the development of liberal individuals. The paper then explains that Dewey has identified three different attitudes which, according to him, are related to and define reflective practice. These are open-mindedness, responsibility and wholeheartedness. The paper looks at why open-mindedness is the most important one. The writer believes that the link between open-mindedness, tolerance and liberal individualism is the reasonable basis for the new liberal individualism.

Outline:
Introduction
Section I
Section II
Section III
Conclusions

From the Paper:

"Indeed, first of all, it is necessary to make a successful translation from the application of these terms on the reflective practice and the actual democratic framework. All three are well applicable in this case. First of all, a functional democracy is based on open-mindedness, as per Dewey's definition. Indeed, the capacity to listen to more sides than one gives out an implicit capacity to be tolerant and to accept differences as one of the fundamental values of a democratic society.
"Second of all, it is just as true that functional democracy needs to be based on responsibility, which comes in numerous formations. We can discuss responsibility towards the state, responsibility towards society and responsibility towards other individuals as well."

Sample of Sources Used:

• London, Scott. December 2000. Organic Democracy: The Political Philosophy of John Dewey. On the Internet at http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/dewey.html. Last retrieved on September 9, 2007
• Raines, Peggy, Shadiow, Linda. Reflection and Teaching: The Challenge of Thinking Beyond the Doing .
• Harrington, Hannah. THE CONTRIBUTION OF BIBLICAL STUDIES TO THE LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION: THE MODEL OF PATTEN COLLEGE. On the Internet at http://www.iclnet.org/pub/facdialogue/19/harrington. Last retrieved on September 9, 2007
• Smith, Huston. Liberals and Conservatives Absolutism and Relativism Dogmatism and Open-Mindedness. Why Religion Matters, pp.209-211. From the Internet at http://www.escapefromwatchtower.com/fundamentalismandrelativism.html. Last retrieved on September 9, 2007
• Podesta, Ed. December 2006. The Reflective Practitioner Model of Initial Teacher Education. On the Internet at http://www.onedamnthing.org.uk/node/9. Last retrieved on September 9, 2007

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