Pedagogical logic and reflexive thinking based on John Dewey and Paulo Freire: same epistemology, different ethical and political perspectives

Abstract

The text describes viable interlocutions between John Dewey’s and Paulo Freire’s pedagogies through an epistemological approach presented by both thinkers. Curiosity is the initial impulse to knowledge for both authors, producing outcomes to reflexive thought and pedagogical logic. The epistemic intersection between objective reality and the subjects of knowledge, accompanied by the critique of traditionalist education, are basic in John Dewey and Paulo Freire’s thinking. In the sections titled Thought and reflection in John Dewey and Epistemological curiosity in Paulo Freire, we present the main arguments related to Deweyan and Freirian epistemologies in order to conclude that they are inside a sufficiently related anthropological bias, but differ in political and pedagogical perspectives.