uld be assigned and done in groups. Together in these groups students would use the scientific method to tackle difficult questions. The students would learn by doing. They would exchange their ideas and thoughts and come up with the best possible solution they could come up with. Then each group would present its own answer to the class as a whole in order to 'check everyone's work'. Dewey would invite the students to decide as a class which answer provided the best solution to the problem at hand. He would then encourage the students to believe in that solution without second guessing themselves. This would follow with Dewey's pragmatic way of thinking. Economics, my major, also happens to represent the views of both Dewey and Hume. The influence of Hume on economics seems obvious. As Hume emphasizes, knowledge comes from observations and experience. A large part of economics deals with understanding theoretical models which are based on prior observations and experience. Yet, Hume felt that any knowledge which came from observation and experience was purely individual. A person's perceptions of objects were just that perceptions. No underlying reality could ever be proved because every individual's perceptions are his alone even if they agree with someone else's. Even the existence of the "someone else" is also only a perception of the senses.For instance, we study models and draw graphs about how low unemployment rates generally result in high inflation rates. Yet, like Hume states, this does not achieve certainty because it is based on experiences. As we have seen for the last five years, the past does not always have to be like the future. For the last five years, the unemployment rate and the inflation rate have both been exceptionally low. The existing models and equations have not been able to explain why because they are based on previous experiences and data. Subsequently, new models based on the new data ...
