John Dewey / F.M. Alexander - Time Line

[sraj]

Hello List,

I am presently rereading Will Durant's 'Story of Philosophy', concentrating especially on John Dewy, the youngest and last philosopher in the book. John Dewy was a famous and prominent  educator in the first half of the twentieth century, and as we all know he is part of the AT lore.

What has education to do with The Alexander Technique? Apparently a lot. John Dewey wrote introductions to three of Alexander's four books. In the third book 'The Use of the Self', he seems to have gone out on a limb, making the statement 'It (Alexander Technique) bears the same relation to education that education itself bears to all other human activities.'

Dewey wrote a number of books, I am curious to learn how Alexander's work influenced his thought process. Evidently there must have been some kind of fallout between the two after Alexander got trapped in the Libel case in South Africa (1942 - 1948), where, F.M Alexander clashed with Ernst Jolk, Director of Physical Education to the South African Government. There is no contribution from Dewey in Alexander's fourth book, published in 1941.

According to a footnote in The Story of Philosophy the most important of Dewey's books are: The School and Society (1900); Studies in Logical Theory (1903); Ethics (with Tafts, 1908); How we think (1909); The influence of Darwin on Philosophy (1910); Democracy and Education (1913); Schools of Tomorrow (with his Daughter Evelyn,1915); Essays in Experimental Logic (1916); Creative Intelligence (1917); Reconstruction in Philosophy (1920); Human Nature and Conduct (1922). The last two are the easiest approaches to his thoughts.... (Dewey has written many more books and pamphlets which may be explored.)

The Dewey books listed above seem to be available for free on the net, thanks to The Project Gutenberg initiative. With the ongoing crisis in Education, the Environmental Crisis and increase in belligerency, where we risk blowing ourselves out of existence, let us examine whether some of Dewey's ideas need to be implemented, even if we fail to discover the basis for his remarkable statement linking Alexander Technique and education. 

TIME LINE

1859 - John Dewey is born

1869 - F.M. Alexander is born

1922 - Important books written by Dewey till the year 1922, listed in Will Durant's book.

1910 - Man's Supreme Inheritance, written by F.M. Alexander.

1923 - Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, written by F.M. Alexander.

1932 - The Use of the Self, written by F.M. Alexander.

1941 - The Universal Constant in Living, written by F.M. Alexander.

1942 - Libel Case in South Africa 

1955 - F.M. Alexander passes away.

1952 - John Dewey passes away.

Regards,

Selvaraj