TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Italic text has been marked with _underscores _. Inconsistencies in
hyphenation have not been corrected; inconsistencies in spelling have
been corrected (both phantasy and fantasy were used in the original
text, phantasy has been changed to fantasy for consistency). A list of
all corrections to the text can be found at the end of the document.
HUMAN NATURE
AND CONDUCT
An Introduction to Social Psychology
BY
JOHN DEWEY
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1922
COPYRIGHT, 1922,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
First Printing, Jan., 1922
Second Printing, Mar., 1922
Third Printing, June, 1922
Fourth Printing, Aug., 1922
Fifth Printing, Nov., 1922
Sixth Printing, April, 1923
PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY
The Quinn & Boden Company
BOOK MANUFACTURERS
RAHWAY NEW JERSEY
PREFACE
In the spring of 1918 I was invited by Leland Stanford Junior University
to give a series of three lectures upon the West Memorial Foundation.
One of the topics included within the scope of the Foundation is Human
Conduct and Destiny. This volume is the result, as, according to the
terms of the Foundation, the lectures are to be published. The lectures
as given have, however, been rewritten and considerably expanded. An
Introduction and Conclusion have been added. The lectures should have
been published within two years from delivery. Absence from the country
rendered strict compliance difficult; and I am indebted to the
authorities of the University for their indulgence in allowing an
extension of time, as well as for so many courtesies received during the
time when the lectures were given.
Perhaps the sub-title requires a word of explanation. The book does not
purport to be a treatment of social psychology. But it seriously sets
forth a belief that an understanding of habit and of different types of
habit is the key to social psychology, while the operation of impulse
and intelligence gives the key to individualized mental activity. But
they are secondary to habit so that mind can be understood in the
concrete only as a system of beliefs, desires and purposes which are
formed in the interaction of biological aptitudes with a social
environment.
J. D.
February, 1921
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
Contempt for human nature; pathology of goodness; freedom;
value of science.
_PART ONE_
THE PLACE OF HABIT IN CONDUCT
SECTION I: HABITS AS SOCIAL FUNCTIONS 14
Habits as functions and arts; social complicity; subjective
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 TWO_
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 THREE_
THE PLACE OF INTELLIGENCE IN CONDUCT
SECTION I: HABIT AND INTELLIGENCE 172
Habits and intellect; mind, habit and impulse.