Human Nature and Conduct: An Introduction to Social Psychology by John Dewey, first published in 1922, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.
On Human Nature: Biology, Psychology, Ethics, Politics, and Religion covers the present state of knowledge on human diversity and its adaptative significance through a broad and eclectic selection of representative chapters. This transdisciplinary work brings together specialists from various fields who rarely interact, including geneticists, evolutionists, physicians, ethologists, psychoanalysts, anthropologists, sociologists, theologians, historians, linguists, and philosophers. Genomic diversity is covered in several chapters dealing with biology, including the differences in men and apes and the genetic diversity of mankind. Top specialists, known for their open mind and broad knowledge have been carefully selected to cover each topic. The book is therefore at the crossroads between biology and human sciences, going beyond classical science in the Popperian sense. The book is accessible not only to specialists, but also to students, professors, and the educated public. Glossaries of specialized terms and general public references help nonspecialists understand complex notions, with contributions avoiding technical jargon. Provides greater understanding of diversity and population structure and history, with crucial foundational knowledge needed to conduct research in a variety of fields, such as genetics and disease Includes three robust sections on biological, psychological, and ethical aspects, with cross-fertilization and reciprocal references between the three sections Contains contributions by leading experts in their respective fields working under the guidance of internationally recognized and highly respected editors
This early work is John Dewey’s 1922 treatise, “Human nature and conduct; an introduction to social psychology”. It is a fascinating and in-depth exploration of habit and its importance in the understanding of social psychology. This volume is highly recommended for students of psychology and sociology, and would make for a worthy addition to collections of allied literature. Contents include: “The Place of Habit in Conduct”, “The Place of Impulse in Conduct”, “The Place of Intelligence in Conduct”, and “Conclusion”. John Dewey (1859–1952) was an American psychologist and philosopher. Many classic books such as this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Human Nature And Conduct, An Introduction to Social Psychology, contains 4 Parts; Part One. The Place Of Habit In Conduct; Part Two. The Place Of Impulse In Conduct; Part Three. The Place Of Intelligence In Conduct; and, Part Four. Conclusion."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."
A philosophical account of human nature that defends the concept against dehumanization, Darwinian, and developmentalist challenges. Human nature has always been a foundational issue for philosophy. What does it mean to have a human nature? Is the concept the relic of a bygone age? What is the use of such a concept? What are the epistemic and ontological commitments people make when they use the concept? In What's Left of Human Nature? Maria Kronfeldner offers a philosophical account of human nature that defends the concept against contemporary criticism. In particular, she takes on challenges related to social misuse of the concept that dehumanizes those regarded as lacking human nature (the dehumanization challenge); the conflict between Darwinian thinking and essentialist concepts of human nature (the Darwinian challenge); and the consensus that evolution, heredity, and ontogenetic development result from nurture and nature. After answering each of these challenges, Kronfeldner presents a revisionist account of human nature that minimizes dehumanization and does not fall back on outdated biological ideas. Her account is post-essentialist because it eliminates the concept of an essence of being human; pluralist in that it argues that there are different things in the world that correspond to three different post-essentialist concepts of human nature; and interactive because it understands nature and nurture as interacting at the developmental, epigenetic, and evolutionary levels. On the basis of this, she introduces a dialectical concept of an ever-changing and “looping” human nature. Finally, noting the essentially contested character of the concept and the ambiguity and redundancy of the terminology, she wonders if we should simply eliminate the term “human nature” altogether.
"To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness." This insightful treatise on the essential components of human nature by the great American philosopher and educator John Dewey grew from a series of three lectures presented at Leland Stanford Junior University upon the West Memorial Foundation. One of the topics included was Human Conduct and Destiny. In his own words, Dewey has, set forth a belief that an understanding of habit and different types of habit is the key to social psychology, while the operation of impulse and intelligence gives the key to individualized mental activity. Some eighty years after its original publication, Dewey's common sense based direct approach, rooted in experience and objective observation, still has much to recommend it to students of ethics, psychology, and sociology. Table of Contents PREFACE INTRODUCTION PART ONE. THE PLACE OF HABIT IN CONDUCT SECTION I: HABITS AS SOCIAL FUNCTIONS SECTION II: HABITS AND WILL SECTION III: CHARACTER AND CONDUCT SECTION IV: CUSTOM AND HABIT SECTION V: CUSTOM AND MORALITY SECTION VI: HABIT AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY PART TWO. THE PLACE OF IMPULSE IN CONDUCT SECTION I: IMPULSES AND CHANGE OF HABITS SECTION II: PLASTICITY OF IMPULSE SECTION III: CHANGING HUMAN NATURE SECTION IV: IMPULSE AND CONFLICT OF HABITS SECTION V: CLASSIFICATION OF INSTINCTS SECTION VI: NO SEPARATE INSTINCTS SECTION VII: IMPULSE AND THOUGHT PART THREE. THE PLACE OF INTELLIGENCE IN CONDUCT SECTION I: HABIT AND INTELLIGENCE SECTION II: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THINKING SECTION III: THE NATURE OF DELIBERATION SECTION IV: DELIBERATION AND CALCULATION SECTION V: THE UNIQUENESS OF GOOD SECTION VI: THE NATURE OF AIMS SECTION VII: THE NATURE OF PRINCIPLES SECTION VIII: DESIRE AND INTELLIGENCE SECTION IX: THE PRESENT AND FUTURE PART FOUR. CONCLUSION SECTION I: THE GOOD OF ACTIVITY SECTION II: MORALS ARE HUMAN SECTION III: WHAT IS FREEDOM? SECTION IV: MORALITY IS SOCIAL
Delivered as a series of lectures at Stanford University in the spring of 1918, the pragmatist John Dewey introduces a theory of morals that draws upon the observation that social environment plays a prominent role in the development of human thought and society. Dewey takes issue with the then-popular religious view that morality is an internal quality that can be separated from personal conduct and its effects on society. But, in classic pragmatic tradition, he also takes issue with the opposite extreme viewpoint: that observable outcomes are the only way to judge human conduct—or in other words, that “the end justifies the means.” Mechanically following instructions to produce a desired outcome misses something vitally human. These extreme views can be reconciled with the claim that while concrete material ends are important, the separation from intention is artificial. There is a constant evolution of the material environment, which leads to an evolution in the psychological environment and new desires. A society creates an environment, and this environment creates new feelings which lead to new customs and a new society. Thus, in a very real sense we are all connected to everyone else, not through feelings but though actions and their impacts—whether intentional, or much more often, unintentional and unobserved. This motivates us to take much more responsibility for our actions than their immediately observable effects. Dewey maintains that understanding how society, habits, impulses, and customs co-exist and evolve is the challenge for anyone who wants to create a fairer society. There may be ways to control these various factors to create that society, but those controls will not be static and must be updated based on observation. Touching upon his work in Democracy and Education he stresses again the importance of education in shaping how society functions. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.
Human Nature And Conduct John Dewey "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. Morality is largely concerned with controlling human nature. When we are attempting to control anything we are acutely aware of what resists us. So moralists were led, perhaps, to think of human nature as evil because of its reluctance to yield to control, its rebelliousness under the yoke. But this explanation only raises another question. Why did morality set up rules so foreign to human nature? The ends it insisted upon, the regulations it imposed, were after all outgrowths of human nature. Why then was human nature so averse to them? Moreover rules can be obeyed and ideals realized only as they appeal to something in human nature and awaken in it an active response. Moral principles that exalt themselves by degrading human nature are in effect committing suicide. Or else they involve human nature in unending civil war, and treat it as a hopeless mess of contradictory forces. We are forced therefore to consider the nature and origin of that control of human nature with which morals has been occupied. And the fact which is forced upon us when we raise this question is the existence of classes. Control has been vested in an oligarchy. Indifference to regulation has grown in the gap which separates the ruled from the rulers. Parents, priests, chiefs, social censors have supplied aims, aims which were foreign to those upon whom they were imposed, to the young, laymen, ordinary folk a few have given and administered rule, and the mass have in a passable fashion and with reluctance obeyed. Everybody knows that good children are those who make as little trouble as possible for their elders, and since most of them cause a good deal of annoyance they must be naughty by nature. Generally speaking, good people have been those who did what they were told to do, and lack of eager compliance is a sign of something wrong in their nature.
