John Dewey - The Public and Its Problems

THE PUBLIC AND ITS PROBLEMS

THE PUBLIC AND ITS PROBLEMS

An Essay in Political Inquiry

John Dewey

Edited and with an Introduction by Melvin L. Rogers

SWALLOW PRESS
ATHENS, OHIO

Swallow Press An imprint of Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701 ohioswallow.com

Copyright 1927 by Henry Holt and Company Copyright 1954 by Mrs. John Dewey This edition copyright 2016 by Ohio University Press All rights reserved

To obtain permission to quote, reprint, or otherwise reproduce or distribute material from Swallow Press / Ohio University Press publications, please contact our rights and permissions department at (740) 593-1154 or (740) 593-4536 (fax).

Portions of Melvin L. Rogerss introduction first appeared in Introduction: Revisiting The Public and Its Problems and John Dewey and His Vision of Democracy, both in Revisiting The Public and Its Problems, special issue, Contemporary Pragmatism 7, no. 1 (2011): 19, 6992.

Printed in the United States of America Swallow Press / Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dewey, John, 18591952, author. | Rogers, Melvin L., editor.

Title: The public and its problems : an essay in political inquiry / John Dewey; edited and with an introduction by Melvin L. Rogers.

Description: Athens, Ohio : Swallow Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016020374| ISBN 9780804011662 (paperback) | ISBN 9780804040730 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH: Democracy. | Political science. | State, The. | BISAC: POLITICAL SCIENCE / General.

Classification: LCC JC251 .D47 2016 | DDC 321.8dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016020374

printed with seasons grant
Figure Foundation
oneness of states, full unity

Contents

Melvin L. Rogers

John Dewey, The Public and Its Problems: An Essay in Political Inquiry

Divergence of facts and theoretical interpretations concerning the nature of the state. Practical import of theories. Theories in terms of causal origin. Theory in terms of perceived consequences. Distinction of private and public substituted for that of individual and social. The influence of association. Plurality of associations. Criterion of the public. Function of the state. The state as an experimental problem. Summary.

Public and state. Geographical extent. Multiplicity of states. Spread of consequences. Law is not command. Law and reasonableness. The public and long-established habits of action. Fear of the new. Irreparable consequences. Variation of state-functions according to circumstances of time and place. State and government. State and society. The pluralistic theory.

Private and representative rles of officials. Selection of rulers by irrelevant methods. The problem of control of officials. Meanings of democracy. Fallacy as to origin of democratic government. Influence of non-political factors. The origin of individualism. Influence of the new industry; the theory of natural economic laws. James Mills philosophy of democratic government. Criticism of individualism. Criticism of antithesis of natural and artificial. Wants and aims as functions of social life. Persistence of pre-industrial institutions. Final problem.

Local origin of American democratic government. National unification due to technological factors. Submergence of the public. Disparity of inherited ideas and machinery with actual conditions. Illustrations of resulting failures. Problem of discovering the public. Democracy versus the expert. Explanation of eclipse of public. Illustrated by the World War. Application of criteria of the public. Failure of traditional principles. Political apathy accounted for. Need of experts. Rivals of political interest. Ideals and instrumentalities.

Democracy as idea and as governmental behavior. Problem of the Great Community. Meaning of the democratic ideal. Democracy and community life. Community and associated activity. Communication and the community. Intellectual conditions of the Great Community. Habit and intelligence. Science and knowledge. Limitations upon social inquiry. Isolation of social inquiry. Pure and applied science. Communication and public opinion. Limitations of distribution of knowledge. Communication as art.

Antithesis between individual and social as obstruction to method. Meaning of individual. Where opposition lies. Meaning of absolutistic logic. Illustration from doctrine of evolution. From psychology. Difference of human and physical science. Experimental inquiry as alternative. Method, and government by experts. Democracy and education by discussion. The level of intelligence. The necessity of local community life. Problem of restoration. Tendencies making for restablishment. Connection of this problem with the problem of political intelligence.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank former students at Carleton College (20057) for their suggestions on the introduction. I extend thanks to Kendra Boileau of Penn State University Press, Gillian Berchowitz of Ohio University Press for her commitment to the project, the original reviewers of the manuscript, the editorial staff, and Colin Koopman of the University of Oregon, Jack Turner of the University of Washington, Christopher Lbron of Yale University, Eric MacGilvray of Ohio State University, Eddie Glaude of Princeton University, and my original research assistant, David Novitsky, at the University of Virginia, all of whom provided helpful suggestions in preparing this volume. As always, support from my partner, Frederick Godley, has sustained me in working on this project.

Melvin L. Rogers

Chronology