themselves, did not constitute knowledge in his eyes; their only use was in forming theoretical hypotheses to explain empiri- cal facts. Shaping education according to perceived metaphysical truths, Dewey ar- gued, would mean giving it an authoritar- ian cast. As he saw it, Arcilla explains, metaphysics "prevents us in principle from investigating whether empirical and practical facts may to some degree also de- termine, and help us criticize, the meta- physical truths we hold. Yet we need...