The public and its problems · John Dewey
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE I. SEARCH FOR THE PUBLIC 3 Divergence of facts and theoretical interpretations concerning the nature of the state, 3. Practical import of theories, 5. Theories in terms of causal origin, 9. Theory in terms of perceived consequences, 12. Distinction of private and public substituted for that of individual and social, 13. The influence of association, 22. Plurality of associations, 26. Criterion of the public, 27. Function of the state, 28. The state as an experimental problem, 32. Summary, 34. II. DISCOVERY OF THE STATE 37 Public and state, 38. Geographical extent, 39. Multiplicity of states, 43. Spread of consequences, 47. Law is not command, 53. Law and reasonableness, 55. The public and long-established habits of action, 57. Fear of the new, 59. Irreparable consequences, 62. Variation of state-functions according to circumstances of time and place, 65. State and government, 66. State and society, 69. The pluralistic theory, 73. III. THE DEMOCRATIC STATE 75 Private and representative rôles of officials, 76. Selection of rulers by irrelevant methods, 78. The problem of control of officials, 82. Meanings of democracy, 83. Fallacy as to origin of democratic government, 84. Influence of non-political factors, 85. The origin of “individualism,” 86. Influence of the new industry; the theory of “natural” economic laws, 90. James Mill’s philosophy of democratic government, 93. Criticism of “individualism,” 95. Criticism of antithesis of natural and artificial, 102. Wants and aims as functions of social life, 104. Persistence of pre-industrial institutions, 108. Final problem, 109.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.