Walter Benjamin and John Dewey: The Structure of Difference Between Their Thoughts on Education

This paper compares aspects of the thinking of Walter Benjamin and John Dewey. Both attempted to address the problem of ‘poverty of experience’ in modern society by means of an anti‐dualistic concept of experience and the concept of media. These concepts can be observed optimally in their work on aesthetics. Such concepts of experience and media were the keys to the development of new conceptions of education. Differences in their understanding of media, however, led them to different strategies in the development of their educational thought. The present paper will show that Benjamin's strategy offers a promising alternative to that of Dewey.