Education in Immanuel Kant and John Dewey: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The concept of education has been profoundly significant and interesting topic to deal with for so many years now. All through the years, history is replete with significant discourse on what really the best method that the educational institutions should employ in a quest for various types of strategies that could offer for the best interest of the learners. However, as to the manner of the various teaching styles there’s an imperative need to be enhanced, fundamentally and incrementally improved not just in an educational spectrum but in the realm of philosophy. That is perhaps why several famous philosophers presented their remarkable ideas on what is really the significant value of education and how can education proffer an adequate teaching style in nurturing the whole being of every learner. Among them, two names are widely known- Kant and Dewey. This paper aimed to compare and contrast the key points on the concepts of education of Kant and Dewey. A comparative method was employed to understand the concepts of education of Kant and Dewey. The results showed that Kant and Dewey converged on the manner of their philosophies of education in concurrence with their understanding of the nature of education, the goal of education, and the educator and learner. On the other hand, Kant and Dewey diverged on philosophies of education as regards their understanding of the activities of education.

Keywords: philosophy, education, Kant, Dewey, educator, centrality of the learner