And the differentiation may dispose us to look with more favor upon the proposition already advanced: namely, that the line between private and public is to be drawn on the basis of the extent and scope of the consequences of acts which are so important as to need control, whether by inhibition or by promotion.
Dewey proposes that the distinction between private and public should be based on the consequences of actions.
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More from John Dewey
The foe to be dreaded is interference of government.
Nor can the liberating and confirming results of public action be construed to yield a wholesale idealization of states in contrast with other associations.
For the very familiarity with the phenomena conceals their significance and blinds us to their relation to immediate political problems.
In other words, every officer of the public, whether he represents it as a voter or as a stated official, has a dual capacity.