# Aristotle — Human Nature and Conduct character guide

> Aristotle in Human Nature and Conduct by John Dewey.

**Role:** minor

**First appearance:** 0002-human-nature-and-conduct

## Who they are

Greek philosopher discussed in relation to habit, virtue, and ethics.

## Relationships

### [Herbert Spencer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/characters/herbert_spencer)

_professional_

Aristotle and Herbert Spencer are linked as philosophers whose works on ethics and social evolution are compared in the text, though they belong to different eras.

### [Plato](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/characters/plato)

_professional_

Aristotle and Plato are connected as teacher and student with differing philosophical views, often contrasted in discussions of ethics and human nature.

## In the story

### [Human Nature and Conduct](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/human-nature-and-conduct)

Referenced implicitly in the tradition of moral philosophy that Dewey critiques for separating reason from habit.

### [Part I: The Place of Habit in Conduct](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/part-i-the-place-of-habit-in-conduct)

Dewey draws on Aristotle's concept of habit (hexis) as a formed disposition that shapes character and ethical conduct.

### [Habits and Will](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/ii-habits-and-will)

Referenced for the idea that the untutored moral perceptions of a good man are trustworthy, while those of a bad character are not.

### [Part II: The Place of Impulse in Conduct](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/part-ii-the-place-of-impulse-in-conduct)

Alluded to in discussions of teleology and the nature of aims.

### [III: Changing Human Nature](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/iii-changing-human-nature)

Cited as an example of those who mistakenly attributed slavery to aboriginal human nature, arguing that native distinctions of quality made slavery natural and inevitable.

### [V: Classification of Instincts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/v-classification-of-instincts)

Dewey mentions Aristotle's political faculty as part of a historical classification of instincts that has been used to explain political phenomena.

### [Part III: The Place of Intelligence in Conduct](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/part-iii-the-place-of-intelligence-in-conduct)

Dewey references Aristotle's conception of deliberation as concerned with ends-in-view, contrasting it with traditional views that separate reason from desire.

### [Habit and Intelligence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/i-habit-and-intelligence)

Cited for his conception of an end that exhausts all realization and excludes potentiality, defining the highest excellence as self-revolving thought.

### [The Psychology of Thinking](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/ii-the-psychology-of-thinking)

Cited as asserting that the faculty of pure knowing enters a man from without, representing the view Dewey criticizes.

### [The Nature of Aims](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/vi-the-nature-of-aims)

Dewey identifies Aristotle as the source of the doctrine of fixed ends-in-themselves, which dominated Western culture for two thousand years and persisted in morals even after being expelled from natural science.

### [Desire and Intelligence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/viii-desire-and-intelligence)

Mentioned indirectly through the critique of traditional moral theory that separates desire and reason.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/characters/aristotle
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/characters