Human Nature and Conduct · Chapter
Endnotes explained
The endnotes provide references and commentary on topics such as habit, impulse, mob psychology, instinct, and moral theory, citing works by Alexander, Westermarck, Mitchell, Stuart, Moore, and Williams.
What happens
The endnotes provide references and commentary on topics such as habit, impulse, mob psychology, instinct, and moral theory, citing works by Alexander, Westermarck, Mitchell, Stuart, Moore, and Williams.
Themes in this chapter
Habit and Custom as the Foundation of Conduct
Discusses how habits provide ballast and how their disintegration releases impulse, as seen in mob psychology.
Impulse and Intelligence as Agents of Change
Explores impulse as loose and undirected, contrasting with learned habits and the capacity for conscious betterment.
Characters to notice
- Westermarck
Referenced for 'The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas'.
Key passages
“The word instinct taken alone is still too laden with the older notion that an instinct is always definitely organized and adapted—which for the most part is just what it is not in human beings. The word impulse suggests something primitive, yet loose, undirected, initial.”
Dewey prefers 'impulse' over 'instinct' because instinct implies fixed, organized patterns, whereas impulse captures the raw, unguided starting point of behavior in humans.
Clarifies Dewey's deliberate use of 'impulse' to emphasize plasticity and learning.
“Man can progress as beasts cannot, precisely because he has so many “instincts” that they cut across one another, so that most serviceable actions must be learned.”
Human progress is possible because our many instincts conflict, forcing us to learn adaptive behaviors rather than relying on fixed responses.
Highlights the role of conflicting impulses in enabling learning and conscious improvement.