John Dewey was born on 20 October 1859 in Burlington, Vermont. Dewey is widely regarded one of the most prominent figures in American Pragmatism, though he referred to his work as ‘instrumentalism’. After completing a doctorate in 1884, Dewey taught at the universities of Michigan and Minnesota. In 1894, he joined the faculty of philosophy at the University of Chicago where he founded a laboratory and developed his pedagogical method. He became Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University in 1904, remaining there until his retirement.
His international reputation led to his enlistment as a consultant to the University of Beijing, and he participated in the Commission of Inquiry into the Leon Trotsky trial in Moscow. Dewey contributed to The New Republic and Nation magazines and was involved in contemporary political and social issues. Notable works include Psychology (1887), The School and Society (1899), How We Think (1910), Essays in Experimental Logic (1916), Reconstruction in Philosophy (1920), Human Nature and Conduct (1922), Philosophy and Civilization (1932), Art as Experience (1934), Liberalism and Social Action (1935), and Freedom and Culture (1939).
