Some John Smith and his congeners decide whether or not to grow wheat and how much, where and how to invest money, what roads to build and travel, whether to wage war and if so how, what laws to pass and which to obey and disobey.
Dewey illustrates the complex decisions made by individuals that shape societal outcomes.
Share
More from John Dewey
They are reflections into the singular human being of customs and institutions; they are not natural, that is, “native,” organic propensities.
But it indicates where the problem resides, whatever guise it assumes.
But in this respect he does not differ from those explicitly designated public officials who have also been known to betray the interest committed to them instead of faithfully representing it.
The easiest way out was to go back to the naked individual, to sweep away all associations as foreign to his nature and rights save as they proceeded from his own voluntary choice, and guaranteed his own private ends.