Democracy and Education · Chapter
III: Intelligence and Character explained
Dewey argues that moral education cannot be separated from the acquisition of knowledge and the development of intelligence.
What happens
Dewey argues that moral education cannot be separated from the acquisition of knowledge and the development of intelligence. He critiques both the view that morals are a separate domain and the Socratic-Platonic equation of knowledge with virtue, emphasizing that genuine knowledge—gained through direct experience and social activity—directly shapes character and conduct. The chapter insists that school subjects and methods are inherently moral when they connect to social aims and foster traits like open-mindedness, sincerity, and responsibility.
Themes in this chapter
Unity of Knowledge and Action
Dewey argues that genuine knowledge gained through experience directly influences conduct, rejecting the separation between knowing and doing.
Critique of Traditional Curriculum
Dewey criticizes school knowledge that is merely memorized for recitation, holding that such 'knowledge' has little moral impact, and advocates for learning connected to social life.
Social Function of Education
The chapter emphasizes that knowledge acquired in cooperative, socially meaningful activities builds moral interest and insight, making education a vehicle for social values.
Characters to notice
- Plato
Dewey discusses the Socratic-Platonic teaching that identifies knowledge with virtue, noting that Plato held that true knowledge of the good is achieved only through prolonged education and practical discipline.
- Aristotle
Aristotle is cited as criticizing the Platonic view, arguing that moral virtue is like an art requiring practical experience, not just theoretical knowledge.
- Socrates
Socrates is referenced in the context of the Socratic-Platonic teaching that no man does evil knowingly, linking knowledge and virtue.
- Kant
Kant is mentioned as an example of the view that reason supplies the only proper moral motive, though Dewey critiques the separation of moral knowledge from everyday intelligence.
Key passages
“If a pupil learns things from books simply in connection with school lessons and for the sake of reciting what he has learned when called upon, then knowledge will have effect upon some conduct—namely upon that of reproducing statements at the demand of others.”
When students only memorize facts to recite them on demand, the only behavior affected is their ability to repeat information, not their broader character or life choices.
Dewey distinguishes between superficial knowledge and knowledge that genuinely shapes conduct.
“What is learned and employed in an occupation having an aim and involving cooperation with others is moral knowledge, whether consciously so regarded or not. For it builds up a social interest and confers the intelligence needed to make that interest effective in practice.”
Knowledge gained through purposeful, cooperative activity is inherently moral because it fosters social awareness and the practical intelligence to act on that awareness.
Dewey ties moral education directly to experiential, socially engaged learning.
“Open-mindedness, single-mindedness, sincerity, breadth of outlook, thoroughness, assumption of responsibility for developing the consequences of ideas which are accepted, are moral traits.”
Intellectual virtues like open-mindedness, focus, honesty, and accountability are themselves moral qualities, not separate from character.
Dewey argues that the qualities cultivated through good methods of learning are intrinsically ethical.