Book Description

"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