Mathematics curriculums used in progressive classrooms of the United States and in classrooms of the People's Republic of China presuppose markedly different philosophies. Xie and Carspecken reconstruct different assumptions operating implicitly within mathematics curriculums developed by the Ministry of Education in China and NCTM in the United States. Each curriculum is constructed upon a deep structure holistically integrating presuppositions about the nature of the human self, society, learning processes, language, concepts, human development, freedom, authority and the epistemology and ontology of mathematical knowledge. Xie and Carspecken next present an extended discussion of the two main philosophical traditions informing these curriculums: dialectical materialism in the case of the Chinese mathematics curriculum, and Dewey's instrumental pragmatism in the case of NCTM. Both philosophies were developed as movements out of Hegelian idealism while retaining the anti-dualist and...