The public and its problems
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~60,000 words · 285 passages
Cite this work
- APAJohn Dewey. (n.d.). The public and its problems. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/john-dewey/the-public-and-its-problems
- MLAJohn Dewey. "The public and its problems." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/john-dewey/the-public-and-its-problems.
- ChicagoJohn Dewey. The public and its problems. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/john-dewey/the-public-and-its-problems.
What it is about
The Public and its Problems (1927): Dewey's answer to those who said democracy is impossible because citizens do not know enough.
Context and history
His debate with Walter Lippmann, and the most important work of political theory he wrote. His answer — that the public does not exist by nature but has to be constituted, and that this is what communication does — is more argued over now than ever.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
If one wishes to realize the distance which may lie between “facts” and the meaning of facts, let one go to the field of social discussion. Many persons seem to suppose that facts carry their meaning along with themselves on their face. Accumulate enough of them, and their interpretation stares out at you. The development of physical science is thought to confirm the idea. But the power of physical facts to coerce belief does not reside in the bare phenomena. It proceeds from method, from the technique of research and calculation. No one is ever forced by just the collection of facts to accept a particular theory of their meaning, so long as one retains intact some other doctrine by which he can marshal them. Only when the facts are allowed free play for the suggestion of new points of view is any significant conversion of conviction as to meaning possible. Take away from physical science its laboratory apparatus and its mathematical technique, and the human imagination might run wild in its theories of interpretation even if we suppose the brute facts to remain the same. In any event, social philosophy exhibits an immense gap between facts and doctrines. Compare, for example, the facts of politics with the theories which are extant regarding the nature of the state. If inquirers confine themselves to observed phenomena, the behavior of kings, presidents, legislators, judges, sheriffs, assessors and all other public officials, surely a reasonable consensus is not difficult to attain. Contrast with this agreement the differences which exist as to the basis, nature, functions and justification of the state, and note the seemingly hopeless disagreement. If one asks not for an enumeration of facts, but for a definition of the state, one is plunged into controversy, into a medley of contradictory clamors. According to one tradition, which claims to derive from Aristotle, the state is associated and harmonized
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