John Dewey (Q0347): “The quest for…”

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to The Quest for Certainty and files it under Pragmatism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About John Dewey

John Dewey (1859–1952) was the leading American pragmatist of the progressive era, joining philosophy to experimental education and democratic reform. Educated at Vermont and Johns Hopkins, he taught at Michigan, Chicago—where he ran the Laboratory School—and Columbia.

Interpretation

Dewey is diagnosing a motive rather than praising inquiry. His claim is that the philosophical search for certainty was driven by the desire for safety, and that this desire misdirected it toward the unchanging — the eternal, the necessary — and away from the contingent world where action actually occurs. His alternative is to treat knowledge as a tool for managing what is uncertain. The sentence is a criticism of a tradition from within it.

Why it matters

It is worth asking of any demand for guarantees: what is being protected against? Often the answer reveals that the certainty wanted is emotional rather than practical.

Concepts in this quote

Practice: Practice is where thought becomes habit: philosophy as a way of living, training, and repeated action.

How to cite this quotation

APA: John Dewey. (n.d.). The quest for certainty…is a quest for a peace which is assured. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0347

MLA: John Dewey. “The quest for certainty…is a quest for a….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0347.

Chicago: John Dewey. “The quest for certainty…is a quest for a….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0347.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “The quest for certainty…is a quest for a…”?

The passage is attributed to John Dewey, The Quest for Certainty. The archive attributes this English wording to The Quest for Certainty and files it under Pragmatism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does John Dewey mean by practice?

Many traditions insist that understanding without practice is incomplete—Stoic exercises, Confucian self-cultivation, Buddhist path, and pragmatist inquiry all treat doing as epistemic. This passage enters that discussion through practice.