I know of no better way in which to apprehend the absurdity of the claims which are sometimes made in behalf of society politically organized than to call to mind the influence upon community life of Socrates, Buddha, Jesus, Aristotle, Confucius, Homer, Vergil, Dante, St.
Dewey reflects on the significant influence of historical figures on community life, questioning their political roles.
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In no two ages or places is there the same public.
There is therefore no necessary connection between the private character of an act and its non-social or anti-social character.
Nothing better exhibits the scope of the movement than the fact that philosophic theories of knowledge made the same appeal to the self, or ego, in the form of personal consciousness identified with mind itself, that political theory made…
Nor can the liberating and confirming results of public action be construed to yield a wholesale idealization of states in contrast with other associations.