The presence of Ralph Waldo Emerson in the work of John Dewey
a study on the notion of self-reliance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23925/2316-5278.2025v26i1:e73171Keywords:
Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Self-reliance, PragmatismAbstract
Aiming to discuss the presence of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ideas in John Dewey’s work, this article analyzes Dewey’s texts that mention the word self-reliance, the title of one of Emerson’s most important essays. After presenting Emerson’s central ideas, fourteen of Dewey’s texts considered relevant to this objective are analyzed. The conclusions reveal that Dewey interpreted Emerson through the lens of pragmatism, particularly in his discussion of two closely related themes: ethics and education.
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