# How does Human Nature and Conduct develop the theme of Critique of Traditional Morality and Dualisms?

> Human Nature and Conduct by John Dewey

## Answer

Human Nature and Conduct by John Dewey develops Critique of Traditional Morality and Dualisms across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.

The book criticizes moral theories that separate mind from body, reason from habit, and individual from society, arguing they create false dichotomies and hinder genuine moral progress.

Dewey critiques the dualistic separation of will from habit, mind from body, and individual from environment, which he sees as foundational to traditional moral philosophy.

Dewey criticizes the separation of motive and act, inner and outer, subjective and objective, arguing that these dualisms stem from ignoring the projective force of habit.

Dewey attacks the dualism between self-love and altruism, and the fixed classification of instincts, arguing they are artificial and hinder moral growth.

## Evidence

- [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.md): Dewey critiques the dualistic separation of will from habit, mind from body, and individual from environment, which he sees as foundational to traditional moral philosophy.
- [iii-character-and-conduct](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/iii-character-and-conduct.md): Dewey criticizes the separation of motive and act, inner and outer, subjective and objective, arguing that these dualisms stem from ignoring the projective force of habit.
- [v-classification-of-instincts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/v-classification-of-instincts.md): Dewey attacks the dualism between self-love and altruism, and the fixed classification of instincts, arguing they are artificial and hinder moral growth.
- [vi-no-separate-instincts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/vi-no-separate-instincts.md): Dewey criticizes the dualism between work and play, useful and useless, and the Puritanical distrust of art, arguing that art and play are moral necessities.
- [i-habit-and-intelligence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/i-habit-and-intelligence.md): Dewey critiques the philosophical fallacy of universalizing specific ends, targeting Aristotle, Spencer, Kant, and others for positing static perfection as an ideal.
- [ii-the-psychology-of-thinking](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/ii-the-psychology-of-thinking.md): Dewey rejects the separation of moral knowledge from natural human processes, opposing intuitionist theories of conscience.
- [vi-the-nature-of-aims](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/vi-the-nature-of-aims.md): The chapter critiques the dualism between fixed ends and means, and the separation of moral ideals from scientific inquiry, arguing that this renders ideals impotent.
- [vii-the-nature-of-principles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/vii-the-nature-of-principles.md): Dewey criticizes the traditional moral ambition for fixed, universal principles, the false dichotomy between absolute fixity and absolute looseness, and Kant's separation of reason from experience.

## Links

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