Moral Principles in Education

Dewey, John, 1859-1952Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 66K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Moral Principles in Education by John Dewey. Author: Dewey, John, 1859-1952. Language: English. Class: LC: Education: Special aspects of education. Release Date: Apr 25, 2008.

Editor's review

Moral Principles in Education is John Dewey's short treatise on moral questions in education—brief in length but dense in content. Dewey's central concern is that moral education is not a separate course but a mode that runs through school life, subject teaching, and community relations. He distinguishes "moral ideas" from "ideas about morality," warning educators against reducing character development to preaching and discipline. The text clearly sets out the connections among the school as a social environment, subject matter, and ethical growth, in plain language and tightly argued prose. For today's readers, the book still serves as a conceptual tool for reflecting on moral education practice: it does not offer a manual but helps readers clarify the basic categories of discussion. Suitable for slow reading by education researchers, teacher-training students, and frontline teachers in lesson preparation or teaching research, and also as a first English primary source for an introduction to philosophy of education. Read it alongside familiar classroom scenarios, grounding abstract claims in concrete experience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students of education and teacher-training programs who need to engage with Dewey's primary texts
Primary and secondary school teachers and teaching researchers who wish to reflect on moral education practice
Readers interested in philosophy of education who want to approach Dewey through a short work

Not a good fit for

Frontline teachers looking for moral education activity plans they can apply directly
General readers without teaching experience who lack patience for theoretical argument
Deep researchers who need to read Dewey's educational works systematically rather than a single essay

Reading tips

After each section, write a summary in your own words and match it to one classroom teaching example.
Make notes on the distinction between "moral ideas" and "ideas about morality," and refer back to it throughout the book.
Read alongside Dewey's other educational writings, noting the place of this book's arguments within his thought.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book long? Does it take a long time to read?

It is a short essay by Dewey, modest in length but dense in argument. Reading it in two or three sessions, leaving time to organize key points after each, is more effective than reading it straight through.

Can I understand it without a philosophy background?

Yes. Dewey's prose is relatively plain, and the issues he discusses are close to everyday school life. When you encounter abstract passages, first understand them in light of your own experience as a student or teacher, then return to the original wording.

Can this book directly guide moral education work?

It is more concerned with clarifying concepts and establishing principles than with providing operational plans. Readers can use it to reflect on the assumptions behind existing moral education practices, then design specific strategies themselves.

Where does the electronic edition come from, and is it reliable?

The information shows that the book is released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain eBook in English. It is the original English text, so readers can check quotations against it, but they must be able to read English themselves.

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About the author

Dewey, John, 1859-1952 Author

John Dewey (1859–1952) was an American philosopher, educational theorist, and psychologist, and a leading representative of pragmatism. The library holds 16 of his works, including Human Nature and Conduct, How We Think, Democracy and Education, Reconstruction in Philosophy, Essays in Experimental Logic, The School and Society, The Child and the Curriculum, and Studies in Logical Theory. These works span social psychology, methods of thinking, philosophy of education, and logic, and are often classified under inspirational growth. Dewey's writing takes problems as its thread, grounding abstract ideas in experience and action; his prose is plain yet closely argued, and his influence on modern educational thought and democratic theory is profound. Public information is limited, so this note introduces only the themes and influence of his works.