On the record
Just as behavior is not anti-social or non-social because privately undertaken, it is not necessarily socially valuable because carried on in the name of the public by public agents.
Said by
John Dewey
Source
gutenberg.orgJohn Dewey: “Just as behavior is not anti-social or non-social because privately undertaken, it is not necessarily socially valuable…”
Editor's note · Context
Dewey argues that actions taken in the name of the public are not inherently valuable just because they are public.
Share
More from John Dewey
In this distinction we find the germ of the distinction between the private and the public.
The foe to be dreaded is interference of government.
The invasion of the community by the new and relatively impersonal and mechanical modes of combined human behavior is the outstanding fact of modern life.
The clear consciousness of a communal life, in all its implications, constitutes the idea of democracy.