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This handbook introduces Human Nature and Conduct, John Dewey's groundbreaking book about moral psychology and moral philosophy, to a new generation. In his classic work, Dewey redefined impulse, habit, and intelligence: not as isolated individual traits, but as socially conditioned factors shaping human thought and action. His ultimate insight is that growth is the only moral good, and that morality is, at its core, a matter of education. Featuring contributions by leading international scholars, this volume presents expert insights into Dewey's unique psychological framework and its far-reaching impact on moral philosophy and education. The book also tackles contemporary moral dilemmas, from environmental protection and healthcare rationing to sexual liberation and religious transformation, demonstrating how Dewey's thought remains as vital today as ever.
List of contents
Foreword Elizabeth Anderson; Acknowledgements; Note on citations of Dewey's work; Introduction Leonard J. Waks and Andrea R. English; Part I. Ethical Theory: Introduction - Dewey's moral psychology and ethics Leonard J. Waks; Section I: Dewey and ethical theory; 1. Dewey's Aristotelian moral psychology: habit and prudence Gregory Fahy; 2. Human nature, norms, and conduct Jennifer Welchman; 3. Dewey's pluralistic imagination Steven Fesmire; 4. Dewey's argument against foundationalism in ethics Todd Lekan; Section II: Main concepts in human nature and conduct; 5. Impulse, sublimation and scientific morality Daniel Herbert; 6. Dewey and Freud: impulses and their alterability Vincent M. Colapietro; 7. Deliberation as drama and discovery Diana B. Heney; 8. Good character Cedric Braun; 9. Growth and the good Leonard J. Waks; Part II. Education: Introduction - Education in a changing world Andrea R. English; Section I: Education, habit and growth; 10. Learning the habit of learning: education, uncertainty and the growth of society Andrea R. English; 11. Morals is education: foundational moral educational ideas in human nature and conduct Merete Wiberg; 12. Intelligence, education and the power of habits Maura Striano; 13. Moral education as growth Leonard Waks; 14. Teaching as a revolutionary habit Ninni Wahlström; 15. Dewey's evolutionary concept of change as educational growth Aline Nardo; 16. Endless growth? Rereading human nature and conduct in the age of Jiko-Kaihatsu Naoko Saito; Section II: Education, crisis and possible futures; 17. Cyber education: a Deweyan foundation for security mindset Jane Blanken-Webb, Holly Hanna and Amy Kuiken; 18. The moral potentialities of science education in the atomic age Shegeki Izawa; 19. Habits and the education of teachers in challenging times Ruth Heilbronn; 20. Educating in a world on fire: Deweyan problem-solving and the role of higher education Joshua Forstenzer; 21. Changing human nature: gesturing toward the decolonial human Lee A. McBride III; Part III. Contemporary Issues and Applications: Introduction - Applied ethics and religious reconstruction Leonard J. Waks; 22. Thinking with and in nature: a Deweyan approach to environmental and animal ethics Erin McKenna and Tess Varner; 23. Dewey and dying well Kimberly Garchar; 24. Dewey's pragmatist ethics and healthcare allocation in sub-Saharan Africa Belayneh Taye; 25. Unleashing the imagination of the creative entrepreneur: a Deweyan interpretation John F. McVea; 26. Human nature and sexual conduct Bethany Henning; 27. Moral knowledge and ordinary activity in Dewey and Daoism Jim Behuniak; 28. Religion, habit, and custom: re-imagining Dewey for the 21st century Christopher D. Tirres; Index.
About the author
Leonard J. Waks is Distinguished Professor of Educational Studies at Hangzhou Normal University, China, and Professor Emeritus at Temple University, USA. He is author of Education 2.0 (2013) and The Evolution and Evaluation of Massive Online Courses (2016), and editor of Listening to Teach (2015) and co-editor of John Dewey's Democracy and Education: A Centennial Handbook (Cambridge, 2017). He is past president of the John Dewey Society and has been awarded the Society's Lifetime Achievement Award.Andrea R. English is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Philosophy of Education at University of Edinburgh. She is author of Discontinuity in Learning: Dewey, Herbart and Education as Transformation (Cambridge, 2013), editor of A History of Western Philosophy of Education: The Modern Era (2021), and co-editor of John Dewey's Democracy and Education: A Centennial Handbook (Cambridge, 2017), which received the Outstanding Book Award by the Society for Professors of Education. She is incoming President of the John Dewey Society.
