Dewey's impact on Italian Culture. A Long Lasting Influence

The aim of this chapter is to describe the influence of the American philosopher John Dewey in Italy and to indicate the impact of his thought on Italian culture in relation to the evolving national context. We aim to show how Dewey’s work was refracted through a number of different ideological lenses, in line with the prevalent political situation of the times. We will thereby connect Dewey’s writing to political and ideological currents, and so elucidate why particular works came to be seen as especially relevant at specific times and were consequently much translated and discussed. We will trace Dewey’s influence and impact across different time periods from the start of the twentieth century to the present day focusing on the main lines of research that have been fed by Dewey’s ideas. In the second section , we will describe how a receptive audience was gradually developed for his ideas in the early twentieth century. Next, in the third and fourth sections, we will consider how his thought came to assume a pivotal role in the educational reconstruction after the World War II and will discuss the post-war philosophical, political and educational debate between Secular-Progressives, Catholics and Marxists. In the following sections, we will examine the impact of the political, economic and social upheaval of the 1960s and will discuss how this stimulated a further discussion of Dewey’s ideas and additional research studies at both an international and national level. In the seventh and eight sections we will consider the final three decades of the twentieth century and will highlight how Dewey’s thought offered inspiration at a time of profound political change and ongoing educational crisis and prompted a comprehensive reconsideration of pedagogy and the practice of education. In the ninth section we will identify Dewey’s continuing relevance in the twenty-first century pedagogical debate. In the concluding sections we will summarise the contribution of Dewey’s thought to the pedagogical debate throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and, finally, focus on the contemporary scenario, highlighting certain lines of research for future study.