듀이의 자연관에 비추어 본 ‘성장으로서 교육’의 의미와 교육사적 의의

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to redefine Dewey’s concept of education as growth and to clarify its historical significance. The methodology adopted in the essay is to reveal the nature and meaning of growth by analyzing Dewey’s view of metaphysics, which is called as empirical naturalism, or his conception of nature and experience. This will be of great help to illuminate and evaluate Dewey’s view of education effectively, comparing with other ones. The essay discusses what is the final source of educating human beings, in other words cultivating human minds. Historically, it has been inquired into and argued in two ways: the outside of human being and the inside of it. The former is the nature out of human being; the latter is the nature inside of man. According to the former, the student can be cultivated as a normal man by learning what is outside of man such as knowledge, custom, moral rules, social culture, etc., which originate from the outside nature. This can be named properly as ‘formation from the outside’ or ‘moulding model’. With respect to the latter, the source of developing human mind is the nature inside of man. This can be designated as ‘cultivation from the inside’ or ‘unfolding model’. Dewey denies both of the views of nature which are based upon the dualism between man and nature and which more importantly describe wrongly the existing facts of man and nature judging from the facts of natural science. Dewey argues that man is in the state of transacting with environment as long as he exists in the world. From this point of view, man who is assumed to be separated from environment can not be possible to exist and be thought of. Nature is appropriately depicted as situational transaction of man with environment. Thus, the original source of developing human mind is situational transaction, which is Dewey’s concept of nature. In conclusion, Dewey’s concept of education as growth can be recognized to be the third concept of education which proposes a new way of understanding educational activities. Now, we have three concepts of education. The first is Platonic concept of education or ‘moulding model’; the second Rousseauian one or ‘unfolding model’; the third Deweyan one or ‘growth model’.