In short, the hypothesis which holds that publics are constituted by recognition of extensive and enduring indirect consequences of acts accounts for the relativity of states, while the theories which define them in terms of specific causal authorship imply an absoluteness which is contradicted by facts.
This statement critiques theories of political states that ignore the complex social consequences of actions.
Share
More from John Dewey
The local communities without intent or forecast found their affairs conditioned by remote and invisible organizations.
There are those who speak as if ability to choose between two tickets were a high exercise of individual freedom.
There are even those who hold that the presumption is always that social loss will result from agents of the public doing anything which could be done by persons in their private capacity.
The idea remains barren and empty save as it is incarnated in human relationships.