Human Nature and Conduct · Question
How does Human Nature and Conduct develop the theme of Moral Judgment as Prospective and Consequential?
Answer
Human Nature and Conduct by John Dewey develops Moral Judgment as Prospective and Consequential across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The book argues that moral judgment should be forward-looking, focused on modifying conditions and future outcomes, rather than backward-looking praise, blame, or retribution.
Dewey emphasizes that moral judgment should focus on future consequences and the modification of conditions, not on retrospective blame or punishment.
Dewey emphasizes that moral judgment is forward-looking, focusing on the consequences of actions and the imaginative rehearsal of possible outcomes.
Dewey reframes moral judgment as the ongoing appraisal of the tendency of present acts, using imaginative foresight to discern meaning rather than to predict fixed outcomes.
Evidence in the book
- Habits as Social Functions
Dewey emphasizes that moral judgment should focus on future consequences and the modification of conditions, not on retrospective blame or punishment.
- Part III: The Place of Intelligence in Conduct
Dewey emphasizes that moral judgment is forward-looking, focusing on the consequences of actions and the imaginative rehearsal of possible outcomes.
- Deliberation and Calculation
Dewey reframes moral judgment as the ongoing appraisal of the tendency of present acts, using imaginative foresight to discern meaning rather than to predict fixed outcomes.
- The Uniqueness of Good
Dewey emphasizes that moral deliberation is about discovering the consequences of competing impulses and habits, not calculating fixed quantities of pleasure.
- The Present and Future
Moral judgment involves projecting future consequences to appraise present significance, but the end is the enrichment of present activity, not a remote goal.
- The Good of Activity
Moral judgment is about the better-or-worse quality of acts, based on observation of conditions and outcomes, and is subject to revision.
