On the record
The distinction between private and public is thus in no sense equivalent to the distinction between individual and social, even if we suppose that the latter distinction has a definite meaning.
Said by
John Dewey
Source
gutenberg.orgJohn Dewey: “The distinction between private and public is thus in no sense equivalent to the distinction between individual and…”
Editor's note · Context
Dewey clarifies that the distinction between private and public actions does not equate to the distinction between individual and social actions.
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More from John Dewey
There was no logic which rendered necessary the appeal to the individual as an independent and isolated being.
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.
Wealth and security are the natural rewards of economic virtues.
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.