Introduction to Part I

Human Nature and Conduct (1922) is Dewey’s first major work after “The Need for Recovery of Philosophy” (1917). Dewey was already clear about the message he wanted to deliver. Perhaps this explains the clear and coherent organization which had eluded him in some earlier works including Democracy and Education (1916). His three Stanford lectures from 1918 that formed the basis for Human Nature and Conduct were devoted to the three central psychological concepts around which the book is organized – impulse, habit, and intelligence. (Dewey added the long introduction and conclusion sections when he prepared the book for publication. Unfortunately, the typescripts of the original lectures no longer exist.) Dewey recognized that these modern psychological concepts were somewhat distant from the standard topics in the moral philosophy of his day. Here, I explain Dewey’s account of them.