TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Italic text has been marked with _underscores _. Inconsistencies in hyphenation have not been corrected; inconsistencies in spelling have been corrected (both phantasy and fantasy were used in the original text, phantasy has been changed to fantasy for consistency). A list of all corrections to the text can be found at the end of the document. HUMAN NATURE AND CONDUCT An Introduction to Social Psychology BY JOHN DEWEY NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1922 COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY First Printing, Jan., 1922 Second Printing, Mar., 1922 Third Printing, June, 1922 Fourth Printing, Aug., 1922 Fifth Printing, Nov., 1922 Sixth Printing, April, 1923 PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY The Quinn & Boden Company BOOK MANUFACTURERS RAHWAY NEW JERSEY PREFACE In the spring of 1918 I was invited by Leland Stanford Junior University to give a series of three lectures upon the West Memorial Foundation. One of the topics included within the scope of the Foundation is Human Conduct and Destiny. This volume is the result, as, according to the terms of the Foundation, the lectures are to be published. The lectures as given have, however, been rewritten and considerably expanded. An Introduction and Conclusion have been added. The lectures should have been published within two years from delivery. Absence from the country rendered strict compliance difficult; and I am indebted to the authorities of the University for their indulgence in allowing an extension of time, as well as for so many courtesies received during the time when the lectures were given. Perhaps the sub-title requires a word of explanation. The book does not purport to be a treatment of social psychology. But it seriously sets forth a belief that an understanding of habit and of different types of habit is the key to social psychology, while the operation of impulse and intelligence gives the key to individualized mental activity. But they are secondary to habit so that mind can be understood in the concrete only as a system of beliefs, desires and purposes which are formed in the interaction of biological aptitudes with a social environment. J. D. February, 1921 CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 Contempt for human nature; pathology of goodness; freedom; value of science. _PART ONE_ THE PLACE OF HABIT IN CONDUCT