John Dewey and the Philosophy and Practice of Hope Format: Hardcover

Inspiring new techniques for engaging students with democratic ideals

John Dewey and the Philosophy and Practice of Hope combines philosophical theory with a study of its effects in an actual classroom. To understand how Dewey, one of the century's foremost philosophers of education, understood the concept of hope, Stephen Fishman begins with theoretical questions like: What is hope? What are its objects? How can hope foster a new understanding of democracy and social justice?

The book's second half is a classroom study that mir-rors in practice what Fishman explores in theory, as Lucille McCarthy observes Fishman's undergraduate students reading the theorists. Illustrating students' own vital engagement with the hope literature, McCarthy reveals how the discussions deepen student understandings, simultaneously showing education's power to promote hope and turn social ideals into reality.

Stephen M. Fishman is a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Lucille McCarthy is a professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. They have coauthored a number of books, including John Dewey and the Challenge of Classroom Practice.