Human Nature and Conduct: An Introduction to Social Psychology

The problem with morality, according to Pragmatist John Dewey, is that it assumes an inherent lacking in human nature and then seeks, through constraining rules, punishment, and threat, to make humans act differently-act against their nature. This, he claims, is a battle doomed to fail. In Human Nature and Conduct, first published in 1922, Dewey brings the rigor of natural sciences to the quest for a better moral system. By studying habit, impulse, and intelligence, he arrives at a morality...