Dewey and Lippmann: A Comparison, Ch. 3

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Dewey and Lippmann A Comparison, Ch. 3
Dewey on the problem of private and public
interests Dewey opens this chapter with the
public/private problem and by contending with
Lippmanns claim that people can only ever
represent or act in their own private interests.
Dewey concedes that acting in the public interest
is a challenge, but he holds to the idea that one
can act more in the public interest than in her
own interests. The best which most men sic
attain to is domination by the public weal of
their other desires (p. 76). This is an
important argumentative strategy for Dewey.
While Lippmann tends to go for all or nothing
statements--either you can or you cannot get past
your own private interests--Dewey opts for
qualified claims--though your private interests
must always be a concern, you can try to act in
the publics interest. This effort--the
trying--brings about representative government
and the state (p. 77).
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Dewey and Lippmann A Comparison, Ch. 3
Dewey on what makes a good public
representative Pp. 78-81 explain why some
people--priests, military leaders, bloodline
aristocrats--get selected as public officials,
and why they are ill-suited to the task. Dewey
sez they will not act in the publics interest.
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Dewey and Lippmann A Comparison, Ch. 3

• Dewey on the origins of liberal democratic
  government
• Pp. 83-96 return us to Deweys factual focus on
  the consequences of governmental development.
  His argument, in these pages, is that the liberal
  conception of the state (the belief that
  government exists solely to protect individual
  rights see p. 87) did not arise out of any
  facts about how people really are as some
  philosophers claim. Liberalism, and
  individualism, according to Dewey, come from
  specific historical circumstances, particularly
• The revolt against monarchism and its controlling
  efforts, its impositions on peoples religions,
  their economic practices, etc.
• The revolt against mercantilism and its attempts
  in the 17th century to manage trade and commerce
  to the benefit, not of the individual trader, but
  of the state.
• In these arguments, Dewey is directly refuting
  Lippmanns claim that people are innately
  individualistic and self-interested. Dewey is
  saying that were not innately so, but we have
  been historically so.

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Dewey and Lippmann A Comparison, Ch. 3
Dewey on why individualist liberalism is no
longer suited to the great society If we accept
Deweys argument that individualism and the
liberal conception of the state are historical
constructions, then we are prepared for his next
move a claim that these beliefs no longer work
in the great society. Dewey here picks up
Lippmanns concession in ch. 15 of PPS--the great
society connects us all into intricate networks
that create a public interest (see Dewey, p. 96,
paragraph beginning Both of these). But Dewey
does not stop here. He not only sez that
individualism is an historical construction he
also sez that community formation has existed in
human societies throughout time Men have always
been associated together in living, and
associations in conjoint behavior has affected
their relations to one another as individuals
(p. 97). So Dewey has not replaced Lippmanns
fundamental human quality (individual self
interest) with a fundamental social quality
(community).
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Dewey and Lippmann A Comparison, Ch. 3
Dewey on community in the great society Sadly,
Dewey sez, though the great society connects us
all into an interconnected mass with a public
interest, it also inhibits that fundamental
social drive towards community The Great
Society created by steam and electricity may be a
society, but it is no community. The invasion of
community by the new and relatively impersonal
and mechanical modes of combined human behavior
is the outstanding fact of modern life (p.
98). Pp. 98-101 explain why an individualistic
philosophy remained in the Great Society. Dewey
sez many institutions did liberate the
individual manufacturing liberated peoples
consumption abilities increased suffrage
increased individual rights, etc.
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Dewey and Lippmann A Comparison, Ch. 3
Dewey returning to an assault on
individualism Pp. 102-105 return Dewey to a
critique of the philosophy of individualism. P.
106 gets us back to where this chapter began the
democratic state. Dewey sez that any community
with collective wants will then behave in pursuit
of those wants, which leads to customs and
institutions, new associations, and unforeseen
effects. These unforeseen effects create a
public interest, and the public interest leads to
the formation of a state (p. 106). In the great
society, as Dewey sez on pp. 107-8, the
communities forming are enormous (corporations,
special-interest groups, churches, etc.), and
they engage in complicated interactions. He also
sez that treating government as one of these
specially interested associations will halt the
social and humane ideals that demand the
utilization of government as the genuine
instrumentality of an inclusive and fraternally
associated public (p. 109). Basically, a
government operating as an interested actor will
get in the way of helping the great society.