Rethinking the Concept of Individuality in the Age of Measurement: The Transition of John Dewey's Thought from the 1920s to the 1930s

Abstract

 The issue of individuality in education has constantly been discussed, along with the technology to understand and measure it. The individually optimized learning discussed in today's discourse is a new development of this concept, of which the development of new technologies to measure individuality is a crucial element. Today's individuality discourse closely links the need to measure individuality and its technological feasibility, just as new technologies are considered to make individually optimized learning possible. In this situation, or the so-called age of measurement (Gert Biesta), the question of what individuality is must be considered with regard to measuring technology.

 Based on the concern above, this paper takes as its starting point John Dewey's (1859-1952) insights into measurement technologies and examines how individuality is understood within his discussions, focusing on Dewey's writings on individuality and individualism during the 1920s and 1930s to trace their ideological evolution.

 In his essays of the early 1920s, Dewey develops a critique of intelligence tests in which he considers individuality to be pluralistic. Dewey criticizes IQ tests for misusing and truncating individuality into a deviation of standardized, uniform ability. At the same time, however, his argument raises the possibility that such new measurement technologies may extend educators' understanding of the pluralistic nature of individuality (Section 2).

 The problem of individuality in Dewey is addressed in the early 1930s to critically examine individualism in industrial society. He suggests that while technologies and sciences support industrialization, they also contain new ways of looking at the individual and individuality that make possible a "new individualism" (Section 3).

 In the late 1930s, Dewey redefines the concept of individuality using the findings of physics concerning probability and the Uncertainty Principle. His concept of individuality is stated as "the source of whatever is unpredictable," which involves indeterminacy (section 4).

 Through the examination of these three points, this paper shows the development of Dewey's concept of individuality from plurality to the source of unpredictability. His critique of intelligence testing in the early 1920s argues that measurement technologies do not provide norms. The paper finds that this critique of measurement technologies is grounded in the concept of individuality as the source of the unpredictable.