Taiwan Today

In the death of Professor John Dewey the world has lost a foremost thinker, the United States an educationist-philosopher, and Free China a sympathetic friend. Sharing the honor with William James, Dewey contributed to the enrichment of human wisdom by working out a typically American system of thought commonly known as Pragmatism. The intellectual aristocrats of Europe had once looked down upon the new nation on the other side of the Atlantic as good for nothing except money-making. But with the rise of Pragmatism Dewey proclaimed America's independence of the Old World in the realm of philosophy and showed that she had fully come of age in things of the mind as much as in material and technological achievements. Although Pragmatism is by no means the last word in philosophic speculation, as Dewey himself would have freely conceded that it is not, its importance as an instrument of thought and, therefore, one of the most seminal principles in the history of philosophy is now generally recognized. Dewey's influence on his own country was exerted in his capacity as professor, educator, and citizen. Though he is often remembered by most people as a hesitating speaker and obscure writer, it was through his university lectures, technical treatises, and contributions to current periodicals that he to students and the general public, in drawing to himself a large following, and in encouraging the development of what has been known as Progressive Education. Two generations of students have sat at his feet and gone out into succeeded in imparting his views the wide world to tryout his ideas in the classroom and on the playground. No other educator throughout all recorded history has seen the application of his own theories in his lifetime on a grander scale than Professor Dewey. Yet great as his influence in the academic and educational circles may have been, he was essentially an American citizen who took his civic duties in all seriousness. Whenever he saw a cause for him to champion, he would throw himself into it heart and soul. He was a philosopher who, unlike most members of his profession, did not dwell in the Olympian heights but lived among and rubbed shoulders with his fellowmen. In this sense, he may be said to have carried on the Socratic and Confucian traditions. Dewey's contact with China began over thirty years ago in the years immediately after the First World War. It was the time of the so-called Literary Renaissance, in which his pupil and admirer, Dr. Hu Shih, was playing an active part. He came and delivered a series of public lectures on Social and Political Philosophy before large audiences composed mainly of students in Peiping and another series on the Philosophy of Nietzsche in Tsing Hua College. Since then he had always interested himself in China and the Chinese. Many Chinese young men and women in the last generation were attracted to Columbia University chiefly because of the opportunity it gave them to receive instruction and derive inspiration from the fountain-head of American philosophy. He was ever kind and patient and willing to devote both time and attention to discuss all questions on which his visitors had come to seek for enlightenment. He was a genuine friend of the Chinese people, even if he did not proclaim the fact from the housetops. Judged by his implicit faith in democracy and the democratic way of life and his life-long love for the Chinese as individuals and as a nation, he must have been of late years painfully grieved to see the rise of the Communist dictatorship on the Chinese mainland and the submergence of the finest elements of Chinese civilization in a sea of Red terrorism and persecution. Those of us in Free China who have been fortunate enough to imbibe a little of Professor Dewey's philosophical and social teachings cannot do more and better to honor his memory than by dedicating ourselves anew to the sacred task of defending freedom and democracy in the worldwide struggle with the dark forces of International Communism.