Human Nature and Conduct · Chapter
Desire and Intelligence explained
Dewey critiques the opposition between desire and intelligence, arguing that desire is not merely emotional but involves thought in its forward urge to overcome obstacles.
What happens
Dewey critiques the opposition between desire and intelligence, arguing that desire is not merely emotional but involves thought in its forward urge to overcome obstacles. He rejects the view that intellect is cold and unproductive, insisting that genuine desire includes an end-in-view that requires intelligent deliberation. He warns against separating warm emotion from cool intelligence, calling this division the great moral tragedy, and advocates for integrating impulse, habit, and thought to transform conduct.
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 Falling 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
Dewey argues that desire and intelligence are not opposed; impulse provides the forward urge, while intelligence guides it through deliberation and foresight.
- Freedom as Intelligent Deliberation, Not Arbitrary Choice
True freedom involves using intelligence to select ends-in-view that unify activity, not mere emotional impulse or arbitrary will.
- Critique of Traditional Morality and Dualisms
Dewey criticizes the separation of desire and thought, emotion and intellect, as a false dualism that leads to moral tragedy.
Characters to notice
- Plato
Referenced implicitly in the discussion of ideals as transcendent and remote, contrasting with Dewey's pragmatic view.
- Aristotle
Mentioned indirectly through the critique of traditional moral theory that separates desire and reason.
- Bergson
Alluded to in the context of critics who emphasize desire and creative impulse over intellect.
- William James
Referenced through the discussion of impulse and the psychology of desire, aligning with James's functionalist approach.
Key passages
“The separation of warm emotion and cool intelligence is the great moral tragedy.”
Dividing feeling from reason is the deepest moral failure.
Dewey emphasizes the need to integrate emotion and intellect in moral life.
“Desire is the forward urge of living creatures. When the push and drive of life meets no obstacle, there is nothing which we call desire.”
Desire arises only when life's activity encounters resistance.
Desire is defined as a response to obstacles, not a primary given.
“The end-in-view of desire is that object which were it present would link into an organized whole activities which are now partial and competing.”
The goal of desire is to reunify fragmented activities into a coherent whole.
Dewey reinterprets the object of desire as a means to restore unified action.
