Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2019 number 2

Introduction. This essay presents foundations of the John Dewey’s progressive school and raises suspicion on the consolidated critics stablished in Brazil by Dermeval Saviani concerning John Dewey education`s conception. As a hypothesis, it proposes that if the progressive school is non-critical, like intended by the historical-critical theory says by Dermeval Saviani perhaps his theory is also non-critical, by some other reason, because it stimulates a critique without looking into John Dewey’s work. Methodology and methods of the research. From the literature review it was not finding any research concerning John Dewey, Dermeval Saviani or any discussion highlighting Brazil case. It demonstrates that it is necessary to read the work by John Dewey, besides circumscribing it and referencing it so that a minimally rigorous critique can be attained. The results of the research. The current work supports the argument that the five steps of the historical-critical theory stem from the five points of the progressive school, highlighting the existence of a tacit acknowledgement from the former with respect to the latter. Conclusion. The criticism of the progressive school, made by Saviani, without any indication of the John Dewey’s text looks fragile. It is not only a methodological weakness, but also of merit, and the main issue with this kind of fragility, considering the importance of the author, is the influence caused over other authors, as demonstrated in the case of Silveira.