Abstracts Education

The concept of self-realization in the educational philosophies of John Dewey and Allāma Ṭabāṭabāī : a compararative study

by Seyed Ahmad. Rahnamaei

This study presents a comparative analytical investigation of two divergent yet parallel doctrines of self-realization. John Dewey, a distinguished American thinker, represents a naturalist pragmatist conception of self-realization on the one hand, and 'Allama Tabataba'i, a renowned Muslim philosopher, an Islamic perception on the other. While Dewey is considered a spokesperson for modern American pragmatist and humanist thought, 'Allama may be seen as typical of Islamic Shi'i thinking. In dealing with their conceptualizations of self-realization, the intention in this study is to focus on some significant aspects of the human self, to rediscover its potentiality and to determine the wisdom behind self-realization from a comparative perspective. After outlining the two thinkers' scholarly backgrounds, instructional contexts, sources, methods, works and purposes, the study examines certain specific issues. It investigates their understandings of human nature, and explores their positions on moral experience and human character, as well as on the arts and sciences as vehicles for self-realization. As its final chapter, the study elaborates the basic elements and manifestations of self-realization as depicted in Dewey's and 'Allama's systems of thought. This research aims at clarifying the parallels, similarities and differences that exist between the two scholars, through an in-depth comparison of their respective naturalist and Islamic approaches and attitudes.