Human Nature and Conduct · Chapter
III: The Nature of Deliberation explained
Dewey argues that deliberation is not a conflict between reason and desire, but a dramatic rehearsal in imagination of competing habits and impulses.
What happens
Dewey argues that deliberation is not a conflict between reason and desire, but a dramatic rehearsal in imagination of competing habits and impulses. Reason is the harmonious organization of diverse dispositions, not an antecedent force. Deliberation is rational when it flexibly remakes aims and habits, and irrational when biased by fixed ends.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This passage marks the story's dramatic climax because it delivers a psychological reversal, rejecting the uti…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Impulse and Intelligence as Agents of Change
Deliberation is a dramatic rehearsal of competing impulses and habits; reason emerges from their harmonious organization, not from a separate rational faculty.
- Habit and Custom as the Foundation of Conduct
Habits and impulses are the raw materials of deliberation; reason is a quality of their effective relationship, not a force opposed to them.
- Freedom as Intelligent Deliberation, Not Arbitrary Choice
Rational deliberation involves flexible forethought that remakes old aims and habits, enabling freedom from fixed biases.
Characters to notice
- William James
Dewey cites James's view that passion keeps imagination dwelling on congenial objects, intensifying its force, and that rationality involves more passions, not fewer.
Key passages
“Deliberation is a dramatic rehearsal (in imagination) of various competing possible lines of action.”
Deliberation is like mentally acting out different courses of action to see what they would be like.
Dewey defines deliberation as an imaginative experiment, not a purely logical calculation.
“Reasonableness is in fact a quality of an effective relationship among desires rather than a thing opposed to desire.”
Being reasonable means organizing desires effectively, not suppressing them.
Dewey rejects the traditional opposition between reason and desire.
“More 'passions,' not fewer, is the answer.”
The solution is to cultivate more passions, not eliminate them.
Dewey argues that rationality requires a rich emotional life, not its suppression.
