Dewey and Eros

"We become what we love," states Jim Garrison in Dewey and Eros:
Wisdom and Desire in the Art of Teaching. This provocative book
represents a major new interpretation of Dewey's education philosophy.
It is also an examination of what motivates us to teach
and to learn, and begins with the idea of education of eros (i.e.,
passionate desire)-"the supreme aim of education" as the author
puts it-and how that desire results in a practical philosophy
that guides us in recognizing what is essentially good or valuable.
Garrison weaves these threads of ancient wisdom into a critical
analysis of John Dewey's writings that reveal an implicit theory of
eros in reasoning, and the central importance of educating eros to
seek "the Good."
Chapters: Plato's Symposium: Eros, the Beautiful, and the Good ¿
Care, Sympathy, and Community in Classroom Teaching: Feminist
Refl ections on the Expansive Self ¿ Play-Doh, Poetry, and "Ethereal
Things" ¿ The Aesthetic Context of Inquiry and the Teachable Moment ¿
The Education of Eros: Critical and Creative Value Appraisal ¿ Teaching
and the Logic of Moral Perception
This book can be used in graduate courses in foundations, teacher
education, philosophy of education, qualitative research, arts and
education, language and literacy, and women and education.
Jim Garrison is Professor of Philosophy of Education at Virginia
Tech in Blacksburg, VA.