Human Nature and Conduct

by John Dewey

Overview

"Give a dog a bad name and hang him." Human nature has been the dog of professional moralists, and consequences accord with the proverb. Man's nature has been regarded with suspicion, with fear, with sour looks, sometimes with enthusiasm for its possibilities but only when these were placed in contrast with its actualities. It has appeared to be so evilly disposed that the business of morality was to prune and curb it; it would be thought better of if it could be replaced by something else. It has been supposed that morality would be quite superfluous were it not for the inherent weakness, bordering on depravity, of human nature. Some writers with a more genial conception have attributed the current blackening to theologians who have thought to honor the divine by disparaging the human. Theologians have doubtless taken a gloomier view of man than have pagans and secularists. But this explanation doesn't take us far. For after all these theologians are themselves human, and they would have been without influence if the human audience had not somehow responded to them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781548303990
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	07/04/2017
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Murray G. Murphey is Professor of Amer­ican Civilization at the University of Penn­sylvania.

Jo Ann Boydston is Director of the Cen­ter for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Patricia Baysinger, textual editor of this volume, is a member of the Dewey Center staff.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
	Contempt for human nature
	Pathology of goodness
	Freedom
	Value of science
Part 1	The Place of Habit in Conduct
Section I	Habits as Social Functions	14
	Habits as functions and arts
	Social complicity
	Subject factor
Section II	Habits and Will	24
	Active means
	Ideas of ends
	Means and ends
	Nature of character
Section III	Character and Conduct	43
	Good will and consequences
	Virtues and natural goods
	Objective and subjective morals
Section IV	Custom and Habit	58
	Human psychology is social
	Habit as conservative
	Mind and body
Section V	Custom and Morality	75
	Customs as standards
	Authority of standards
	Class conflicts
Section VI	Habit and Social Psychology	84
	Isolation of individuality
	Newer movements
Part 2	The Place of Impulse in Conduct
Section I	Impulses and Change of Habits	89
	Present interest in instincts
	Impulses as re-organizing
Section II	Plasticity of Impulse	95
	Impulse and education
	Uprush of impulse
	Fixed codes
Section III	Changing Human Nature	106
	Habits the inert factor
	Modification of impulses
	War a social function
	Economic regimes as social products
	Nature of motives
Section IV	Impulse and Conflict of Habits	125
	Possibility of social betterment
	Conservatism
Section V	Classification of Instincts	131
	False simplifications
	"self-love"
	Will to power
	Acquisitive and creative
Section VI	No Separate Instincts	149
	Uniqueness of acts
	Possibilities of operation
	Necessity of play and art
	Rebelliousness
Section VII	Impulse and Thought	169
Part 3	The Place of Intelligence in Conduct
Section I	Habit and Intelligence	172
	Habits and intellect
	Mind, habit and impulse
Section II	The Psychology of Thinking	181
	The trinity of intellect
	Conscience and its alleged separate subject-matter
Section III	The Nature of Deliberation	189
	Deliberation as imaginative rehearsal
	Preference and choice
	Strife of reason and passion
	Nature of reason
Section IV	Deliberation and Calculation	199
	Error in utilitarian theory
	Place of the pleasant
	Hedonistic calculus
	Deliberation and prediction
Section V	The Uniqueness of Good	210
	Fallacy of a single good
	Applied to utilitarianism
	Profit and personality
	Means and ends
Section VI	The Nature of Aims	223
	Theory of final ends
	Aims as directive means
	Ends as justifying means
	Meaning well as an aim
	Wishes and aims
Section VII	The Nature of Principles	238
	Desire for certainty
	Morals and probabilities
	Importance of generalizations
Section VIII	Desire and Intelligence	248
	Object and consequence of desire
	Desire and quiescence
	Self-deception in desire
	Desire needs intelligence
	Nature of idealism
	Living in the ideal
Section IX	The Present and Future	265
	Subordination of activity to result
	Control of future
	Production and consummation
	Idealism and distant goals
Part 4	Conclusion
Section I	The Good of Activity	278
	Better and worse
	Morality a process
	Evolution and progress
	Optimism
	Epicureanism
	Making others happy
Section II	Morals are Human	295
	Humane morals
	Natural law and morals
	Place of science
Section III	What is Freedom?	303
	Elements in freedom
	Capacity in action
	Novel possibilities
	Force of desire
Section IV	Morality is Social	314
	Conscience and responsibility
	Social pressure and opportunity
	Exaggeration of blame
	Importance of social psychology
	Category of right
	The community as religious symbol
	Index	333

Editorial Reviews

In this reprint of his 1922 work, John Dewey (1859-1952) lays out his philosophy of human morality. He argues that morality must be grounded in an understanding of human physiology and psychology. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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