9 h 31 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 31 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if changing your character begins not with stronger willpower, but with the habits and conditions of daily life?
In Human Nature and Conduct, John Dewey asks why people keep doing what they know is foolish or cruel. His answer begins with habit. We learn ways of acting from the people around us, and those patterns shape who we are. To understand conduct, he argues, we must look beyond reason or fixed instincts alone.
Dewey follows the connections between habit, impulse and intelligence to explore how change becomes possible. Impulses supply energy; thought can help reshape established ways of acting. The stakes reach beyond personal routines and temper. Shared customs hold moral judgments in place, making the question of individual growth also a question of how societies resist reform.
What you’ll discover
- The habits behind character Look beyond small routines to explore how learned patterns make up the self.
- Skills that can grow Consider the pianist and carpenter, whose practiced habits are more than dull repetition.
- The power of custom See how a community passes on its ways of acting and judging.
- Impulse as raw energy Explore Dewey's account of impulse as energy that intelligence can help reshape.
- Morals in daily life Think through moral growth as a shared human inquiry, tested in everyday conduct.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love ideas about how people change, from teachers and parents to students of psychology, ethics and politics. Dewey tests big claims against everyday scenes, and gives you plenty to use.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Morality begins with human nature
- Habits belong to shared conditions
- Change begins with the next act
- Education can keep habits flexible
- Impulse supplies material for change
- Thinking rehearses possible ways forward
- Aims guide action without ending it
- Freedom grows through knowledge and community
- Morality belongs in present activity
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Human Nature and Conduct
by John Dewey · 1922
A bad posture, a bad habit, a bad war: Dewey argues that all of them yield to study, not to willpower.
Challenging5–10 hours to read20 languages
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In short
Why does telling yourself to stand up straight so rarely work? John Dewey uses that small puzzle to build a whole theory of conduct.
Human Nature and Conduct at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 30 min4 h 20 min fast, 6 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 78,400 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1922by John Dewey
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Human nature is the material of morality
Dewey begins with a proverb about giving a dog a bad name and then hanging him. Human nature, he says, has been the dog of professional moralists. They treated it as weak and wicked. Yet he asks: if human nature is so hostile to rules, why did humans invent the rules at all?
Morality cut off from human nature produces its own sicknesses. It becomes a list of things not to do, and its common product is bland respectability. Forceful people treat conventional morals as a tool for managing the masses. Romantics praise raw impulse, and sensitive idealists retreat into a private inner world.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1922
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Dewey, John. Human Nature and Conduct. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/human-nature-and-conduct.
Dewey, J. (2026). Human nature and conduct. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/human-nature-and-conduct (Original work published 1922)
Dewey, John. Human Nature and Conduct. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/human-nature-and-conduct.
@book{dewey2026human,
author = {Dewey, John},
title = {Human Nature and Conduct},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/human-nature-and-conduct},
note = {First published 1922}
}
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What is Human Nature and Conduct about?
John Dewey argues that conduct is shaped by habit, impulse and intelligence working together inside a social environment. He uses everyday cases to show that morality should be studied like other human affairs, with attention to causes and consequences.
What does Dewey mean by habit?
For Dewey, a habit is an acquired readiness to respond in certain ways, not just repetition. It is active, shapes desire and thought, and joins a person with the environment. He treats it as the working form of will.
Is Dewey saying human nature can be changed?
Yes, in the sense that he treats human nature as flexible. Impulses can be redirected into many patterns, while customs and habits hold most of the inertia. War and economic systems, he says, come from social arrangements and are not fixed instincts.
The author
John Dewey
1859–1952 · American philosopher and educational reformer
John Dewey (1859–1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer. He was born in Burlington, Vermont, and died in New York City. He taught at the University of Chicago and Columbia University. His books include How We Think (1910), Democracy and Education (1916), and Human Nature and Conduct (1922).
More by John Dewey
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