Education: Dewey at 80

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One Indian summery evening last week 1,000 people gathered in Manhattan to praise "America's greatest philosopher." It was John Dewey's 80th birthday, and many distinguished men and women—among them Chinese Ambassador Hu Shih, Charles Beard, Mrs. Eugene Meyer, Fiorello LaGuardia—had come to his party. Nine organizations, including the Progressive Education Association and American Philosophical Association, had arranged to honor him. Honor him they did, with oratory and applause. But Dr. Dewey heard them not. He was not in Manhattan, not in Chicago, not in any of a dozen other places where Dewey birthday meetings were held. Painfully modest Dr. Dewey had hidden himself on a daughter's ranch in Greencastle, Mo.

Although he is one of the most famed modern philosophers and has soapboxed for innumerable causes, few people know John Dewey. To his intimate friends he is a sweet and lovable character. His absentmindedness is fabulous. He sometimes shows up a week late for appointments, goes to the wrong room to meet his classes, has been known to wander into ladies' washrooms. He often goes out into the snow without rubbers or muffler, but rarely catches cold. Despite his absentmindedness, he is scrupulous about fulfilling obligations, never breaks a promise. He used to make it a rule never to read manuscripts submitted to him for criticism by budding philosophers. But applicants learned how to get around his rule: they brought manuscripts to his office. Dewey peeked at them through a crack in the door, invariably melted and let them in. Having promised to read and criticize a manuscript, he always did so—even if he sent it back to the wrong address.

Dr. Dewey now spends his summers in Nova Scotia, his winters in a Manhattan apartment with his youngest daughter. His favorite hobby is solving acrostic puzzles with his family. He also likes to read detective stories, fancies himself as a farmer. But John Dewey spends most of his time thinking. Father of six children (two died young and he adopted another), he early learned to concentrate on his work amidst domestic bustle. To his classes he lectured in a monotonous voice, made no rhetorical effort whatever to interest his audience. Once, after droning on to graduate students for three solid hours on the meaning of the word "this," he concluded: "I think this is a little clearer to me now."

Born in Burlington, Vt., where his father kept a general store displaying a sign: "Ham and Segars, Smoked and Un-smoked," John Dewey raised Yankee common sense to the status of a full-fledged philosophical system. Essence of his philosophy is indicated in the proverb: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." Truth, to John Dewey, is not fixed or absolute, changes as conditions change. And he believes that the highest virtue is intelligence, that intelligence means resolving a problem with the answer that 1) is most workable, 2) makes the most people happy. Moral basis of Dr. Dewey's philosophy is a firm belief in democracy.