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, 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 mirrors in practice what Fishman explores in theory, as 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. [from publisher description].