Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why is the Center for Dewey Studies (and John Dewey's papers) located at Southern Illinois University Carbondale?

A: The "History of the Center" page on this website explains the development of the Center and the donation of the John Dewey Papers from the John Dewey Foundation to SIU.

Q: Does the Center for Dewey Studies offer courses or provide funding?

A: The Center does not offer courses at present, but the Philosophy Program at SIU regularly offers courses in Dewey and other aspects of American Philosophy for both undergraduate and graduate students. The Center for Dewey Studies provides funding for students through our annual Essay Award and for long-term visiting researchers through our Visiting Fellows Program. 

Q: Did John Dewey create the Dewey Decimal system?

A: No. That was Melvil Dewey.

Q: Does the Center for Dewey Studies house all of John Dewey's Papers?

A: The Center for Dewey Studies is a research, outreach, and editorial center, not an archive of original materials. Special Collections Research Center of Morris Library houses original documents pertaining to Dewey’s life and work. The CDS does have a small number of archival materials and other resources. We also have extensive digital archives of Works About Dewey that can be accessed at the Center. 

Q: How do I find photos of Dewey?

A: Special Collections Research Center at Morris Library holds all the original photographs from the Dewey Collection. In this collection are portraits as well as family photographs. Please contact Special Collections for access to this material.

Q: How do I cite the Collected Works and Correspondence of John Dewey?

A: Standard references to John Dewey's works are to the critical (print) edition, The Collected Works of John Dewey, 1882-1953, edited by Jo Ann Boydston (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969-1991, 2008), and published in three series as The Early Works (EW), The Middle Works (MW), and The Later Works (LW). These designations are followed by volume and page number. "(LW 1: 14)," for example, refers to The Later Works, volume 1, page 14. First citation to any source should include further information on the source as apprioriate to the citation style in use. This might include the title of the source, e.g., (Experience and Nature, LW 1: 14) or ("The Logic of Judgments of Practice," MW 8: 20-22); alternatively, it might include author and original date of publication with a corresponding reference to the Collected Works in the Works Cited, e.g., (Dewey 1925, LW 1: 14) or (Dewey 1915, MW 8: 20-22). This may be unnecessary if the title or publication date are mentioned in the text itself. 

In order to ensure uniform citations of the critical edition, the pagination of the print edition has been preserved in The Collected Works of John Dewey, 1882-1953: The Electronic Edition, edited by Larry A. Hickman (Charlottesville, Virginia: InteLex Corp., 1996). Please note that in this edition, the page numbers appear at the top of the page, not the bottom. 

References to The Correspondence of John Dewey are to the Comprehensive Edition (four volumes), edited by Larry A. Hickman (Charlottesville, Virginia: InteLex Corp., 2023), and are listed by volume and item number, e.g., (Correspondence 2: 05716). Additional pertinent information concerning items in the Correspondence may be given in a footnote, typically as e.g., "John Dewey to Sidney Hook (1928.01.10)." Such information may also be given in the main text or omitted where deemed unnecessary. Volume and item numbers are preserved across editions of the Correspondence to ensure references are compatible.

Q: Does the phrase "learning by doing" appear in Dewey’s published work?

A: Good question. In Schools of Tomorrow it appears on MW.8.255, 257, 258, 261, 265, 286, and 391. In some of those instances, the phrase appears in quotes. The phrase also appears in Democracy and Education, MW 9.192. There is also discussion of the meaning of the phrase in the introductions to those volumes.

Q: Did Dewey ever say "Education is not a preparation for life but life itself"?

A: In his essay "Self-Realization as the Moral Ideal" (Early Works 4:50) Dewey writes, "...if I were asked to name the most needed of all reforms in the spirit of education, I should say: 'Cease conceiving of education as mere preparation for later life, and make it the full meaning of the present life.'"

From "Educational Lectures before Brigham Young Academy, 2. Social Aspects of Education" (Later Works 17:226): "An acquaintance with the history of educational theory shows that there have been two explanations of the purpose and nature of education. One of these ideas is the social idea. The definition which it offers is that education is the preparation for the social position of life, the preparation of the individual to play his proper part in the community or state of which he is a member."