,,transcriber',s ,,note3    ,italic text
 has been marked with underscores4 ,a   
list of corrections to  the text can be 
found at the end of the document4       
,inconsistencies in  spelling or        
hyphenation have not been corrected4    
,,contributions ,,to ,,education        
,,number ,,ii            ,,the          
,,university ,,of ,,chicago    ,,founded
 ,,by ,,john ,d4 ,,rockefeller          
,,contributions ,,to ,,education        
,,number ,,ii        ,,psychology ,,and 
,,social    ,,practice        ,,by      
,,john ,,dewey      ,,professor ,,and   
,,head ,,of ,,departments ,,of          
,,philosophy ,,and ,,education          
,,chicago    ,,the ,,university ,,of    
,,chicago ,,press    #aija              
,,copyright1 #aija1 ,,by    ,,the       
,,university ,,of ,,chicago             
,,chicago1 ,,ill4          ,,psychology 
,,and ,,social ,,practice               
,,psychology ,,and ,,social             
,,practice4#a        #a ,address of the 
,president before the ,american         

,psychological ,association1 ,new       
,haven1 #ahii4      ,in coming before   
you ,i had hoped to deal with the       
problem of the  relation of psychology  
to the social sciences--and through them
 to  social practice1 to life itself4   
,naturally1 in anticipation1 ,i had     
conceived a systematic exposition of    
fundamental principles covering the     
whole ground1 and giving every factor   
its due rating and position4 ,that      
discussion is not ready today4 ,i am    
loath1 however1 completely to  withdraw 
from the subject1 especially as there   
happens to be a certain  phase of it    
with which ,i have been more or less    
practically occupied  within the last   
few years4 ,i have in mind the relation 
of psychology to  education4 ,since     
education is primarily a social affair1 
and since  educational science is first 
of all a social science1 we have here a 
section of the whole field4 ,in some    
respects there may be an advantage  in  
approaching the more comprehensive      

question through the medium of one  of  
its special cases4 ,the absence of      
elaborated and coherent view may be     
made up for by a background of          
experience1 which shall check the       
projective power of reflective          
abstraction1 and secure a translation of
  large words and ideas into specific   
images4 ,this special territory1        
moreover1 may be such as to afford both 
sign-posts and broad avenues to  the    
larger sphere--the place of psychology  
among the social sciences4  ,because ,i 
anticipate such an outcome1 and because 
,i shall make a survey  of the broad    
field from the special standpoint taken1
 ,i make no apology  for presenting this
 discussion to an association of        
psychologists rather  than to a         
gathering of educators4    ,in dealing  
with this particular question1 it is    
impossible not to have  in mind the     
brilliant and effective discourses      
recently published by my  predecessor in
 this chair4 ,i shall accordingly make  

free to refer to  points1 and at times  
to words1 in his treatment of the       
matter4 ,yet1 as  perhaps ,i hardly need
 say1 it is a problem of the most       
fundamental  importance for both        
psychology and social theory that ,i    
wish to discuss1  not any particular    
book or article4 ,indeed1 with much of  
what ,dr4  ,mnsterberg says about the   
uselessness and the danger for the      
teacher of  miscellaneous scraps of     
child study1 of unorganized information 
regarding the nervous system1 and of    
crude and uninterpreted results of      
laboratory experiment1 ,i am in full    
agreement4 ,it is doubtless necessary   
to protest against a hasty and violent  
bolting of psychological facts  and     
principles which1 of necessity1 destroys
 their scientific form4 ,it  is         
necessary to point out the need of a    
preliminary working over of             
psychological material1 adapting it to  
the needs of education4 ,but  these are 
minor points4 ,the main point is whether

 the standpoint of  psychological       
science1 as a study of mechanism1 is    
indifferent and  opposed to the demands 
of education with its free interplay of 
personalities in their vital attitudes  
and aims4      ,i4    ,the school       
practice of today has a definite        
psychological basis4  ,teachers are     
already possessed by specific           
psychological assumptions  which control
 their theory and their practice4 ,the  
greatest obstacle to  the introduction  
of certain educational reforms is       
precisely the  permeating persistence of
 the underlying psychological creed4    
,traced  back to its psychological      
ultimates1 there are two controlling    
bases of  existing methods of           
instruction4 ,one is the assumption of a
 fundamental  distinction between child 
psychology and the adult psychology     
where in  reality identity reigns1 viz41
 in the region of the motives and       
conditions which make for mental power4 
,the other is the assumption of         

likeness where marked difference is the 
feature most significant for            
educational purposes2 ,i mean the       
specialization of aims and habits in    
the adult1 compared with the absence of 
specialization in the child1  and the   
connection of undifferentiated status   
with the full and free  growth of the   
child4    ,the adult is primarily a     
person with a certain calling and       
position in  life4 ,these devolve upon  
him certain specific responsibilities   
which  he has to meet1 and call into    
play certain formed habits4 ,the child  
is  primarily one whose calling is      
growth4 ,he is concerned with arriving  
at specific ends and purposes--instead  
of having a general framework  already  
developed4 ,he is engaged in forming    
habits rather than in  definitely       
utilizing those already formed4         
,consequently he is absorbed  in getting
 that all-around contact with persons   
and things1 that range  of acquaintance 
with the physical and ideal factors of  

life1 which shall  afford the background
 and material for the specialized aims  
and pursuits  of later life4 ,he is1 or 
should be1 busy in the formation of a   
flexible  variety of habits whose sole  
immediate criterion is their relation to
  full growth1 rather than in acquiring 
certain skills whose value is  measured 
by their reference to specialized       
technical accomplishments4  ,this is the
 radical psychological and biological   
distinction1 ,i take it1  between the   
child and the adult4 ,it is because of  
this distinction that  children are     
neither physiologically nor mentally    
describable as little  men and women4   
,the full recognition of this           
distinction means of course the         
selection  and arrangement of all school
 materials and methods for the          
facilitation  of full normal growth1    
trusting to the result in growth to     
provide the  instrumentalities of later 
specialized adaptation4 ,if education   
means  the period of prolonged infancy1 

it means nothing less than this4 ,but   
look at our school system and ask       
whether the three ,r's are taught1      
either as to subject-matter or as to    
method1 with reference to growth1  to   
its present demands and opportunities2  
or as technical acquisitions  which are 
to be needed in the specialized life of 
the adult4 ,ask the  same questions     
about geography1 grammar1 and history4  
,the gap between  psychological theory  
and the existing school practice becomes
 painfully  apparent4 ,we readily       
realize the extent to which the present 
school  system is dominated by carrying 
over into child life a standpoint and   
method which are significant in the     
psychology of the adult4    ,the narrow 
scope of the traditional elementary     
curriculum1 the premature  and excessive
 use of logical analytic methods1 the   
assumption of  ready-made faculties of  
observation1 memory1 attention1 etc41   
which can  be brought into play if only 
the child chooses to do so1 the ideal of

  formal discipline--all these find a   
large measure of their explanation  in  
neglect of just this psychological      
distinction between the child and  the  
adult4 ,the hold of these affairs upon  
the school is so fixed that it  is      
impossible to shake it in any           
fundamental way1 excepting by a         
thorough appreciation of the actual     
psychology of the case4 ,this           
appreciation cannot be confined to the  
educational leaders and  theorists4 ,no 
individual instructor can be sincere and
 whole-hearted1 to  say nothing of      
intelligent1 in carrying into effect the
 needed reforms1  save as he genuinely  
understands the scientific basis and    
necessity of  the change4    ,but in    
another direction there is the          
assumption of a fundamental  difference3
 namely1 as to the conditions which     
secure intellectual and  moral progress 
and power4#b ,no one seriously questions
 that1 with an  adult1 power and control
 are obtained through realization of    

personal  ends and problems1 through    
personal selection of means and         
materials  which are relevant1 and      
through personal adaptation and         
application of  what is thus selected1  
together with whatever of               
experimentation and of  testing is      
involved in this effort4 ,practically   
every one of these three  conditions of 
increase in power for the adult is      
denied for the child4  ,for him problems
 and aims are determined by another     
mind4 ,for him the  material that is    
relevant and irrelevant is selected in  
advance by  another mind4 ,and1 upon the
 whole1 there is such an attempt to     
teach him  a ready-made method for      
applying his material to the solution of
 his  problems1 or the reaching of his  
ends1 that the factor of                
experimentation is reduced to the       
minimum4 ,with the adult we             
unquestioningly assume that an attitude 
of personal inquiry1 based upon  the    
possession of a problem which interests 

and absorbs1 is a necessary             
precondition of mental growth4 ,with the
 child we assume that the  precondition 
is rather the willing disposition which 
makes him ready to  submit to any       
problem and material presented from     
without4 ,alertness  is our ideal in one
 case2 docility in the other4 ,with one 
we assume  that power of attention      
develops in dealing with problems which 
make a  personal appeal1 and through    
personal responsibility for determining 
what is relevant4 ,with the other we    
provide next to no opportunities  for   
the evolution of problems out of        
immediate experience1 and allow  next to
 no free mental play for selecting1     
assorting1 and adapting the  experiences
 and ideas that make for their solution4
 ,how profound a  revolution in the     
position and service of text-book and   
teacher1 and in  methods of instruction 
depending therefrom1 would be effected  
by a  sincere recognition of the        
psychological identity of child and     

adult in  these respects can with       
difficulty be realized4        #b ,i owe
 this point specifically 7as well as    
others more      generally7 to my friend
 and colleague1 ,mrs4 ,ella ,flagg      
,young4    ,here again it is not enough 
that the educational commanders should  
be  aware of the correct educational    
psychology4 ,the rank and file1 just    
because they are persons dealing with   
persons1 must have a sufficient         
grounding in the psychology of the      
matter to realize the necessity and  the
 significance of what they are doing4   
,any reform instituted without  such    
conviction on the part of those who have
 to carry it into effect  would never be
 undertaken in good faith1 nor in the   
spirit which its  ideal inevitably      
demands2 consequently it could lead only
 to disaster4    ,at this point1        
however1 the issue defines itself       
somewhat more narrowly4  ,it may be     
true1 it is true1 we are told1 that some
 should take hold of  psychological     

methods and conclusions1 and organize   
them with reference  to the assistance  
which they may give to the cause of     
education4 ,but  this is not the work of
 the teacher4 ,it belongs to the general
  educational theorist3 the middleman   
between the psychologist and the        
educational practitioner4 ,he should put
 the matter into such shape that  the   
teacher may take the net results in the 
form of advice and rules for  action2   
but the teacher who comes in contact    
with the living  personalities must not 
assume the psychological attitude4 ,if  
he does1 he  reduces persons to objects1
 and thereby distorts1 or rather        
destroys1  the ethical relationship     
which is the vital nerve of instruction 
7,psychology and ,life1 p4 #abb1 and pp4
 #acf-h74    ,that there is some        
legitimate division of labor between the
 general  educational theorist and the  
actual instructor1 there is1 of course1 
no  doubt4 ,as a rule1 it will not be   
the one actively employed in            

instruction who will be most conscious  
of the psychological basis and          
equivalents of the educational work1 nor
 most occupied in finding the           
pedagogical rendering of psychological  
facts and principles4 ,of  necessity1   
the stress of interest will be          
elsewhere4 ,but we have already  found  
reason for questioning the possibility  
of making the somewhat  different       
direction of interest into a rigid      
dualism of a legislative  class on one  
side and an obedient subject class on   
the other4 ,can the  teacher ever       
receive obligatory prescriptions8 ,can  
he receive from  another a statement of 
the means by which he is to reach his   
ends1 and  not become hopelessly servile
 in his attitude8 ,would not such a     
result  be even worse than the existing 
mixture of empiricism and               
inspiration8--just because it would     
forever fossilize the empirical  element
 and dispel the inspiration which now   
quickens routine4 ,can a  passive1      

receptive attitude on the part of the   
instructor 7suggesting  the soldier     
awaiting orders from a commanding       
general7 be avoided1  unless the        
teacher1 as a student of psychology1    
himself sees the reasons  and import of 
the suggestions and rules that are      
proffered him8    ,i quote a passage    
that seems of significance3 ,do we not  
lay a special  linking science          
everywhere else between the theory and  
practical work8  ,we have engineering   
between physics and the practical       
workingmen in the  mills2 we have a     
scientific medicine between the natural 
science and the  physician 7p4 #ach74   
,the sentences suggest1 in an almost    
startling way1  that the real essence of
 the problem is found in an organic     
connection  between the two extreme     
terms--between the theorist and the     
practical  worker--through the medium of
 the linking science4 ,the decisive     
matter  is the extent to which the ideas
 of the theorist actually project       

themselves1 through the kind offices of 
the middleman1 into the  consciousness  
of the practitioner4 ,it is the         
participation by the  practical man in  
the theory1 through the agency of the   
linking science1  that determines at    
once the effectiveness of the work done1
 and the  moral freedom and personal    
development of the one engaged in it4   
,it is  because the physician no longer 
follows rules1 which1 however rational  
in themselves1 are yet arbitrary to him 
7because grounded in principles  that he
 does not understand71 that his work is 
becoming liberal1  attaining the dignity
 of a profession1 instead of remaining a
 mixture of  empiricism and quackery4   
,it is because1 alas1 engineering makes 
only a  formal and not a real connection
 between physics and the practical      
workingmen in the mills that our        
industrial problem is an ethical        
problem of the most serious kind4 ,the  
question of the amount of wages  the    
laborer receives1 of the purchasing     

value of this wage1 of the hours  and   
conditions of labor1 are1 after all1    
secondary4 ,the problem  primarily roots
 in the fact that the mediating science 
does not connect  with his              
consciousness1 but merely with his      
outward actions4 ,he does  not          
appreciate the significance and bearing 
of what he does2 and he does  not       
perform his work because of sharing in a
 larger scientific and  social          
consciousness4 ,if he did1 he would be  
free4 ,all other proper  accompaniments 
of wage1 and hours1 healthful and       
inspiring conditions1  would be added   
unto him1 because he would have entered 
into the ethical  kingdom4 ,shall we    
seek analogy with the teacher's calling 
in the  workingmen in the mill1 or in   
the scientific physician8    ,it is     
quite likely that ,i shall be reminded  
that ,i am overlooking an  essential    
difference4 ,the physician1 it will be  
said1 is dealing with a  body which     
either is in itself a pure object1 a    

causal interplay of  anatomical         
elements1 or is something which lends   
itself naturally and  without essential 
loss to treatment from this point of    
view2 while the  case is quite different
 in the material with which the teacher 
deals4  ,here is personality1 which is  
destroyed when regarded as an object4   
,but  the gap is not so pronounced nor  
so serious as this objection implies4   
,the physician1 after all1 is not       
dealing with a lifeless body2 with a    
simple anatomical structure1 or         
interplay of mechanical elements4       
,life-functions1 active operations1 are 
the reality which confronts him4  ,we do
 not have to go back many centuries in  
the history of medicine to  find a time 
when the physician attempted to deal    
with these functions  directly and      
immediately4 ,they were so              
overpoweringly present1 they  forced    
themselves upon him so obviously and so 
constantly1 that he had  no resource    
save a mixture of magic and empiricism3 

magic so far as he  followed methods    
derived from uncritical analogy1 or from
 purely general  speculation on the     
universe and life2 empiricism so long as
 he just  followed procedures which had 
been found helpful before in cases which
  somewhat resembled the present4 ,we   
have only to trace the intervening      
history of medicine to appreciate that  
it is precisely the ability to  state   
function in terms of structure1 to      
reduce life in its active  operations to
 terms of a causal mechanism1 which has 
taken the medical  calling out of this  
dependence upon a vibration between     
superstition and  routine4 ,progress has
 come by taking what is really an       
activity as if  it were only an object4 
,it is the capacity to effect this      
transformation  of life-activity which  
measures both the scientific character  
of the  physician's procedure and his   
practical control1 the certainty and    
efficacy of what he1 as a living man1   
does in relation to some other  living  

man4    ,it is an old story1 however1   
that we must not content ourselves with 
analogies4 ,we must find some specific  
reason in the principles of the         
teacher's own activities for believing  
that psychology--the ability to         
transform a living personality into an  
objective mechanism for the time        
being--is not merely an incidental help1
 but an organic necessity4 ,upon  the   
whole1 the best efforts of teachers at  
present are partly paralyzed1  partly   
distorted1 and partly rendered futile   
precisely from the fact  that they are  
in such immediate contact with sheer1   
unanalyzed  personality4 ,the relation  
is such a purely ethical and personal   
one that  the teacher cannot get enough 
outside the situation to handle it      
intelligently and effectively4 ,he is in
 precisely the condition in which  the  
physician was when he had no recourse   
save to deal with health as  entity or  
force on one side1 and disease as       
opposing agency or invading  influence  

upon the other4 ,the teacher reacts en  
bloc1 in a gross  wholesale way1 to     
something which he takes in an equally  
undefined and  total way in the child4  
,it is the inability to regard1 upon    
occasion1  both himself and the child as
 just objects working upon each other in
  specific ways that compels him to     
resort to purely arbitrary measures1  to
 fall back upon mere routine traditions 
of school-teaching1 or to fly  to the   
latest fad of pedagogical theorists--the
 latest panacea peddled  out in school  
journals or teachers' institutes--just  
as the old  physician relied upon his   
magic formula4    ,i repeat1 it is the  
fundamental weakness of our teaching    
force today  7putting aside teachers who
 are actually incompetent by reason     
either of  wrong motives or inadequate  
preparation7 that they react in gross to
 the  child's exhibitions in gross      
without analyzing them into their       
detailed  and constituent elements4 ,if 
the child is angry1 he is dealt with    

simply  as an angry being2 anger is an  
entity1 a force1 not a symptom4 ,if a   
child is inattentive1 this again is     
treated as a mere case of refusal to    
use the faculty or function of          
attention1 of sheer unwillingness to    
act4  ,teachers tell you that a child is
 careless or inattentive in the same    
final way in which they would tell you  
that a piece of paper is white4  ,it is 
just a fact1 and that is all there is of
 it4 ,now1 it is only  through some     
recognition of attention as a mechanism1
 some awareness of  the interplay of    
sensations1 images1 and motor impulses  
which  constitute it as an objective    
fact1 that the teacher can deal         
effectively with attention as a         
function4 ,and1 of course1 the same is  
true of memory1 quick and useful        
observation1 good judgment1 and all the 
other practical powers the teacher is   
attempting to cultivate4                
,consideration of the abstract concepts 
of mechanism and personality is         

important4 ,too much preoccupation with 
them in a general fashion1  however1    
without translation into relevant       
imagery of actual conditions1  is likely
 to give rise to unreal difficulties4   
,the ethical personality  does not go to
 school naked2 it takes with it the body
 as the instrument  through which all   
influences reach it1 and through control
 of which its  ideas are both elaborated
 and expressed4 ,the teacher does not   
deal with  personality at large1 but as 
expressed in intellectual and practical 
impulses and habits4 ,the ethical       
personality is not formed--it is        
forming4 ,the teacher must provide      
stimuli leading to the equipment of     
personality with active habits and      
interests4 ,when we consider the        
problem of forming habits and interests1
 we find ourselves at once  confronted  
with matters of this sort3 ,what stimuli
 shall be presented to  the sense-organs
 and how8 ,what stable complexes of     
associations shall be  organized8 ,what 

motor impulses shall be evoked1 and to  
what extent8 ,how  shall they be induced
 in such a way as to bring favorable    
stimuli under  greater control1 and to  
lessen the danger of excitation from    
undesirable  stimuli8 ,in a word1 the   
teacher is dealing with the psychical   
factors  that are concerned with        
furtherance of certain habits1 and the  
inhibition of others--habits            
intellectual1 habits emotional1 habits  
in  overt action4    ,moreover1 all the 
instruments and materials with which the
 teacher deals  must be considered as   
psychical stimuli4 ,such consideration  
involves of  necessity a knowledge of   
their reciprocal reactions--of what goes
 by the  name of causal mechanism4 ,the 
introduction of certain changes into a  
network of associations1 the            
reinforcement of certain sensori-motor  
connections1 the weakening or displacing
 of others--this is the  psychological  
rendering of the greater part of the    
teacher's actual  business4 ,it is not  

that one teacher employs mechanical     
considerations1  and that the other does
 not1 appealing to higher ends2 it is   
that one  does not know his mechanism1  
and consequently acts servilely1        
superstitiously1 and blindly1 while the 
other1 knowing what he is about1  acts  
freely1 clearly1 and effectively4#c     
#c ,that some teachers get their        
psychology by instinct      more        
effectively than others by any amount of
 reflective      study may be           
unreservedly stated4 ,it is not a       
question of      manufacturing teachers1
 but of reinforcing and                 
enlightening those who have a right to  
teach4    ,the same thing is true on the
 side of materials of instruction--the  
school studies4 ,no amount of exaltation
 of teleological personality  7however  
true1 and however necessary the         
emphasis7 can disguise from us  the fact
 that instruction is an affair of       
bringing a child into intimate          
relations with concrete objects1        

positive facts1 definite ideas1 and     
specific symbols4 ,the symbols are      
objective things in arithmetic1         
reading1 and writing4 ,the ideas are    
truths of history and of science4  ,the 
facts are derived from such specific    
disciplines as geography and  language1 
botany and astronomy4 ,to suppose that  
by some influence of  pure personality  
upon pure personality1 conjoined with a 
knowledge of  rules formulated by an    
educational theorist1 an effective      
interplay of  this body of physical and 
ideal objects with the life of the child
 can  be effective1 is1 ,i submit1      
nothing but an appeal to magic1 plus    
dependence upon servile routine4        
,symbols in reading and writing and     
number are1 both in themselves and in   
the way in which they stand for  ideas1 
elements in a mechanism which has to be 
rendered operative  within the child4   
,to bring about this influence in the   
most helpful and  economical way1 in the
 most fruitful and liberating way1 is   

absolutely  impossible save as the      
teacher has some power to transmute     
symbols and  contents into their working
 psychical equivalents2 and save as he  
also  has the power to see what it is in
 the child1 as a psychical mechanism1   
that affords maximum leverage4          
,probably ,i shall now hear that at     
present the danger is not of dealing    
with acts and persons in a gross1       
arbitrary way1 but 7so far as what is   
called new education is concerned7 in   
treating the children too much as       
mechanism1 and consequently seeking for 
all kinds of stimuli to stir and        
attract--that1 in a word1 the tendency  
to reduce instruction to a merely       
agreeable thing1 weakening the child's  
personality and indulging his  mere love
 of excitement and pleasure1 is         
precisely the result of taking  the     
psycho-mechanical point of view4 ,i     
welcome the objection1 for it  serves to
 clear up the precise point4 ,it is     
through a partial and  defective        

psychology that the teacher1 in his     
reaction from dead routine  and         
arbitrary moral and intellectual        
discipline1 has substituted an  appeal  
to the satisfaction of momentary        
impulse4 ,it is not because the  teacher
 has a knowledge of the psycho-physical 
mechanism1 but because he  has a partial
 knowledge of it4 ,he has come to       
consciousness of certain  sensations and
 certain impulses1 and of the ways in   
which these may be  stimulated and      
directed1 but he is in ignorance of the 
larger mechanism  7just as a mechanism71
 and of the causal relations which      
subsist between  the unknown part and   
the elements upon which he is playing4  
,what is  needed to correct his errors  
is not to inform him that he gets only  
misleading from taking the psychical    
point of view1 but to reveal to him  the
 scope and intricate interactions of the
 mechanism as a whole4 ,then  he will   
realize that1 while he is gaining       
apparent efficacy in some  superficial  

part of the mechanism1 he is            
disarranging1 dislocating1 and          
disintegrating much more fundamental    
factors in it4 ,in a word1 he is        
operating1 not as a psychologist1 but as
 a poor psychologist1 and the  only cure
 for a partial psychology is a fuller   
one4 ,he is gaining the  momentary      
attention of the child through an appeal
 to pleasant color1 or  exciting tone1  
or agreeable association1 but at the    
expense of isolating  one cog and       
ratchet in the machinery1 and making it 
operate  independently of the rest4 ,in 
theory1 it is as possible to demonstrate
  this to a teacher1 showing how the    
faulty method reacts unhappily into  the
 personality1 as it is to locate the    
points of wrong construction and  of    
ineffective transfer of energy in a     
physical apparatus4    ,this suggests   
the admission made by writers1 in many  
respects as far  apart as ,dr4 ,harris  
and ,dr4 ,mnsterberg1 that scientific   
psychology is  of use on the            

pathological side1 where questions of   
physical and mental  health are         
concerned4 ,but is there anything with  
which the teacher has  concern that is  
not included in the ideal of physical   
and mental health8  ,does health define 
to us anything less than the teacher's  
whole end and  aim8 ,where does         
pathology leave off in the scale and    
series of vicious  aims and defective   
means8 ,i see no line between the more  
obvious methods  and materials which    
result in nervous irritation and        
fatigue1 in  weakening the power of     
vision1 in establishing spinal          
curvatures1 and  others which1 in more  
remote and subtle1 but equally real1    
ways leave  the child with1 say1 a      
muscular system which is only partially 
at the  service of his ideas1 with      
blocked and inert brain paths between   
eye and  ear1 and with a partial and    
disconnected development of the cerebral
  paths of visual imagery4 ,what error  
in instruction is there which could     

not1 with proper psychological theory1  
be stated in just such terms as  these8 
,a wrong method of teaching reading1    
wrong1 ,i mean1 in the full  educational
 and ethical sense1 is also a case of   
pathological use of the  psycho-physical
 mechanism4 ,a method is ethically      
defective that1 while  giving the child 
a glibness in the mechanical facility of
 reading1  leaves him at the mercy of   
suggestion and chance environment to    
decide  whether he reads the yellow     
journal1 the trashy novel1 or the       
literature which inspires and makes more
 valid his whole life4 ,is it any  less 
certain that this failure on the ethical
 side is repeated in some  lack of      
adequate growth and connection in the   
psychical and  physiological factors    
involved8 ,if a knowledge of psychology 
is  important to the teacher in the     
grosser and more overt cases of mental  
pathology1 is it not even more important
 in these hidden and indirect           
matters--just because they are less     

evident1 and more circuitous in  their  
operation and manifestation8    ,the    
argument may be summarized by saying    
that there is controversy  neither as to
 the ethical character of education1 nor
 as to the  abstraction which psychology
 performs in reducing personality to an 
object4 ,the teacher is1 indeed1 a      
person occupied with other persons4 ,he 
lives in a social sphere--he is a member
 and an organ of a social life4  ,his   
aims are social aims2 the development of
 individuals taking ever  more          
responsible positions in a circle of    
social activities continually           
increasing in radius and in complexity4 
,whatever he as a teacher  effectively  
does1 he does as a person2 and he does  
with and toward  persons4 ,his methods1 
like his aims1 when actively in         
operation1 are  practical1 are social1  
are ethical1 are anything you           
please--save merely  psychical4 ,in     
comparison with this1 the material and  
the data1 the  standpoint and the       

methods of psychology1 are abstract4    
,they transform  specific acts and      
relations of individuals into a flow of 
processes in  consciousness2 and these  
processes can be adequately identified  
and  related only through reference to a
 biological organism4 ,i do not think   
there is danger of going too far in     
asserting the social and  teleological  
nature of the work of the teacher2 or in
 asserting the  abstract and partial    
character of the mechanism into which   
the  psychologist1 as a psychologist1   
transmutes the play of vital values4    
,does it follow from this that any      
attempt on the part of the teacher to   
perform this abstraction1 to see the    
pupil as a mechanism1 to define his  own
 relations and that of the study taught 
in terms of causal influences  acting   
upon this mechanism1 is useless and     
harmful8 ,on the face of it1  ,i cannot 
understand the logic which says that    
because mechanism is  mechanism1 and    
because acts1 aims1 values are vital1   

therefore a  statement in terms of one  
is alien to the comprehension and proper
  management of the other4 ,ends are not
 compromised when referred to the  means
 necessary to realize them4 ,values do  
not cease to be values when  they are   
minutely and accurately measured4 ,acts 
are not destroyed when  their operative 
machinery is made manifest4 ,the        
statement of the  disparity of mechanism
 and actual life1 be it never so true1  
solves no  problem4 ,it is no           
distinction that may be used off-hand to
 decide the  question of the relation of
 psychology to any form of practice4 ,it
 is  a valuable and necessary           
distinction2 but it is only preliminary4
 ,the  purport of our discussion has1   
indeed1 led us strongly to suspect any  
ideal which exists purely at large1 out 
of relation to machinery of  execution1 
and equally a machinery that operates in
 no particular  direction4    ,the      
proposition that a description and      
explanation of stones1 iron1 and        

mortar1 as an absolutely necessary      
causal nexus of mechanical  conditions1 
makes the results of physical science   
unavailable for  purposes of practical  
life1 would hardly receive attention    
today4 ,every  sky-scraper1 every       
railway bridge1 is a refutation1        
compared with which  oceans of talk are 
futile4 ,one would not find it easy to  
stir up a  problem1 even if he went on  
to include1 in this same mechanical     
system1  the steam derricks that hoist  
the stones and iron1 and the muscles and
  nerves of architect1 mason1 and steel 
worker4 ,the simple fact is still  too  
obvious3 the more thoroughgoing and     
complete the mechanical and  causal     
statement1 the more controlled1 the more
 economical1 are the  discovery and     
realization of human aims4 ,it is not in
 spite of1 nor in  neglect of1 but      
because of1 the mechanical statement    
that human activity  has been freed1 and
 made effective in thousands of new     
practical  directions1 upon a scale and 

with a certainty hitherto undreamed of4 
,our  discussion tends to suggest that  
we entertain a similar question         
regarding psychology only because we    
have as yet made so little              
headway--just because there is so little
 scientific control of our  practice in 
these directions2 that at bottom our    
difficulty is local and  circumstantial1
 not intrinsic and doctrinal4 ,if our   
teachers were  trained as architects are
 trained2 if our schools were actually  
managed  on a psychological basis as    
great factories are run on the basis of 
chemical and physical science2 if our   
psychology were sufficiently  organized 
and coherent to give as adequate a      
mechanical statement of  human nature as
 physics does of its material1 we should
 never dream of  discussing this        
question4    ,i cannot pass on from this
 phase of the discussion without at     
least  incidental remark of the obverse 
side of the situation4 ,the difficulties
  of psychological observation and      

interpretation are great enough in any  
case4 ,we cannot afford to neglect any  
possible auxiliary4 ,the great          
advantage of the psycho-physical        
laboratory is paid for by certain       
obvious defects4 ,the completer control 
of conditions1 with resulting  greater  
accuracy of determination1 demands an   
isolation1 a ruling out of  the usual   
media of thought and action1 which leads
 to a certain  remoteness1 and easily to
 a certain artificiality4 ,when the     
result of  laboratory experiment informs
 us1 for example1 that repetition is the
  chief factor influencing recall1 we   
must bear in mind that the result is    
obtained with nonsense material1 i4 e41 
by excluding the conditions of  ordinary
 memory4 ,the result is pertinent if we 
state it thus3 ,the more  we exclude the
 usual environmental adaptations of     
memory1 the greater  importance attaches
 to sheer repetition4 ,it is dubious    
7and probably  perverse7 if we say3     
,repetition is the prime influence in   

memory4    ,now1 this illustrates a     
general principle4 ,unless our          
laboratory results  are to give us      
artificialities1 mere scientific        
curiosities1 they must  be subjected to 
interpretation by gradual               
reapproximation to conditions  of life4 
,the results may be very accurate1 very 
definitive in form2 but  the task of    
re-viewing them so as to see their      
actual import is clearly  one of great  
delicacy and liability to error4 ,the   
laboratory1 in a word1  affords no final
 refuge that enables us to avoid the    
ordinary scientific  difficulties of    
forming hypotheses1 interpreting        
results1 etc4 ,in some  sense 7from the 
very accuracy and limitations of its    
results7 it adds to  our                
responsibilities in this direction4 ,now
 the school1 for  psychological         
purposes1 stands in many respects midway
 between the  extreme simplifications of
 the laboratory and the confused        
complexities  of ordinary life4 ,its    

conditions are those of life at large2  
they are  social and practical4 ,but it 
approaches the laboratory in so far as  
the  ends aimed at are reduced in       
number1 are definite1 and thus simplify 
the conditions2 and their psychological 
phase is uppermost--the  formation of   
habits of attention1 observation1       
memory1 etc4--while in  ordinary life   
these are secondary and swallowed up4   
,if the biological and evolutionary     
attitude is right in looking at mind  as
 fundamentally an instrument of         
adaptation1 there are certainly         
advantages in any mode of approach which
 brings us near to its various          
adaptations while they are still        
forming1 and under conditions selected  
with special reference to promoting     
these adaptations 7or faculties74  ,and 
this is precisely the situation we      
should have in a properly  organized    
system of education4 ,while the         
psychological theory would  guide and   
illuminate the practice1 acting upon the

 theory would  immediately test it1 and 
thus criticise it1 bringing about its   
revision  and growth4 ,in the large and 
open sense of the words1 psychology     
becomes  a working hypothesis1          
instruction is the experimental test and
  demonstration of the hypothesis2 the  
result is both greater practical        
control and continued growth in theory4 
,,ii4    ,i must remind myself that my  
purpose does not conclude with a        
statement  of the auxiliary relation of 
psychology to education2 but that we are
  concerned with this as a type case of 
a wider problem--the relation of        
psychology to social practice in        
general4 ,so far ,i have tried to show  
that it is not in spite of its statement
 of personal aims and social  relations 
in terms of mechanism that psychology is
 useful1 but because  of this           
transformation and abstraction4 ,through
 reduction of ethical  relations to     
presented objects we are enabled to get 
outside of the  existing situation2 to  

see it objectively1 not merely in       
relation to our  traditional habits1    
vague aspirations1 and capricious       
desires4 ,we are  able to see clearly   
the factors which shape it1 and         
therefore to get an  idea of how it may 
be modified4 ,the assumption of an      
identical  relationship of physics and  
psychology to practical life is         
justified4  ,our freedom of action comes
 through its statement in terms of      
necessity4  ,by this translation our    
control is enlarged1 our powers are     
directed1  our energy conserved1 our    
aims illuminated4    ,the school is an  
especially favorable place in which to  
study the  availability of psychology   
for social practice2 because in the     
school  the formation of a certain type 
of social personality1 with a certain   
attitude and equipment of working       
powers1 is the express aim4 ,in idea1   
at least1 no other purpose restricts or 
compromises the dominance of the  single
 purpose4 ,such is not the case in      

business1 politics1 and the             
professions4 ,all these have upon their 
surface1 taken directly1 other  ends to 
serve4 ,in many instances these other   
aims are of far greater  immediate      
importance2 the ethical result is       
subordinate or even  incidental4 ,yet as
 it profiteth a man nothing to gain the 
whole world  and lose his own self1 so  
indirectly and ultimately all these     
other  social institutions must be      
judged by the contribution which they   
make  to the value of human life4 ,other
 ends may be immediately uppermost1 but 
these ends must in turn be means2 they  
must subserve the interests of          
conscious life or else stand condemned4 
,in other words1 the moment we apply an 
ethical standard to the  consideration  
of social institutions1 that moment they
 stand on exactly  the same level as    
does the school1 viz41 as organs for the
 increase in  depth and area of the     
realized values of life4 ,in both cases 
the  statement of the mechanism1 through

 which the ethical ends are realized1   
is not only permissible1 but absolutely 
required4 ,it is not merely             
incidentally1 as a grateful addition to 
its normal task1 that  psychology serves
 us4 ,the essential nature of the       
standpoint which calls  it into         
existence1 and of the abstraction which 
it performs1 is to put  in our          
possession the method by which values   
are introduced and effected  in life4   
,the statement of personality as an     
object1 of social relations  as a       
mechanism of stimuli and inhibitions1 is
 precisely the statement  of ends in    
terms of the method of their            
realization4    ,it is remarkable that  
men are so blind to the futility of a   
morality  which merely blazons ideals1  
erects standards1 asserts laws without  
finding in them any organic provision   
for their own realization4 ,for  ideals 
are held up to follow2 standards are    
given to work by2 laws are  provided to 
guide action4 ,the sole and only reason 

for their conscious  moral statement is1
 in a word1 that they may influence and 
direct  conduct4 ,if they cannot do     
this1 not merely by accident1 but of    
their  own intrinsic nature1 they are   
worse than inert4 ,they are impudent    
impostors and logical                   
self-contradictions4    ,when men derive
 their moral ideals and laws from       
custom1 they also  realize them through 
custom2 but when they are in any way    
divorced from  habit and tradition1 when
 they are consciously proclaimed1 there 
must be  some substitute for custom as  
an organ of execution4 ,we must know the
  method of their operation and know it 
in detail4 ,otherwise the more          
earnestly we insist upon our categorical
 imperatives1 and upon their  supreme   
right of control1 the more flagrantly   
helpless we are as to  their actual     
domination4 ,the fact that conscious1 as
 distinct from  customary1 morality and 
psychology have had a historic parallel 
march is  just the concrete recognition 

of the necessary equivalence between    
ends  consciously conceived1 and        
interest in the means upon which the    
ends  depend4 ,we have the same reality 
stated twice over3 once as value to be  
realized1 and once as mechanism of      
realization4 ,so long as custom  reigns1
 as tradition prevails1 so long as      
social values are determined  by        
instinct and habit1 there is no         
conscious question as to the method  of 
their achievement1 and hence no need of 
psychology4 ,social  institutions work  
of their own inertia1 they take the     
individual up into  themselves and carry
 him along in their own sweep4 ,the     
individual is  dominated by the mass    
life of his group4 ,institutions and the
 customs  attaching to them take care of
 society both as to its ideals and its  
methods4 ,but when once the values come 
to consciousness1 when once a  ,socrates
 insists upon the organic relation of a 
reflective life and  morality1 then the 
means1 the machinery by which ethical   

ideals are  projected and manifested1   
comes to consciousness also4 ,psychology
 must  needs be born as soon as morality
 becomes reflective4    ,moreover1      
psychology1 as an account of the        
mechanism of workings of  personality1  
is the only alternative to an arbitrary 
and class view of  society1 to an       
aristocratic view in the sense of       
restricting the  realization of the full
 worth of life to a section of society4 
,the  growth of a psychology that1 as   
applied to history and sociology1 tries 
to state the interactions of groups of  
men in familiar psychical  categories of
 stimulus and inhibition1 is evidence   
that we are ceasing  to take existing   
social forms as final and unquestioned4 
,the application  of psychology to      
social institutions is the only         
scientific way of  dealing with their   
ethical values in their present unequal 
distribution1  their haphazard          
execution1 and their thwarted           
development4 ,it marks just  the        

recognition of the principle of         
sufficient reason in the large  matters 
of social life4 ,it is the recognition  
that the existing order is  determined  
neither by fate nor by chance1 but is   
based on law and  order1 on a system of 
existing stimuli and modes of reaction1 
through  knowledge of which we can      
modify the practical outcome4 ,there is 
no  logical alternative1 save either to 
recognize and search for the  mechanism 
of the interplay of personalities that  
controls the existing  distributions of 
values1 or to accept as final a fixed   
hierarchy of  persons in which the      
leaders assert1 on no basis save their  
own supposed  superior personality1     
certain ends and laws which the mass of 
men  passively receive and imitate4 ,the
 effort to apply psychology to social   
affairs means that the determination of 
ethical values lies1 not in any  set or 
class1 however superior1 but in the     
workings of the social whole2  that the 
explanation is found in the complex     

interactions and  interrelations which  
constitute this whole4 ,to save         
personality in all1  we must serve all  
alike--state the achievements of all in 
terms of  mechanism1 that is1 of the    
exercise of reciprocal influence4 ,to   
affirm  personality independent of      
mechanism is to restrict its full       
meaning to  a few1 and to make its      
expression in the few irregular and     
arbitrary4    ,the anomaly in our       
present social life is obvious enough4  
,with  tremendous increase in control of
 nature1 in ability to utilize nature   
for the indefinite extension and        
multiplication of commodities for human 
use and satisfaction1 we find the actual
 realization of ends1 the  enjoyment of 
values1 growing unassured and           
precarious4 ,at times it seems  as if we
 were caught in a contradiction2 the    
more we multiply means1 the  less       
certain and general is the use we are   
able to make of them4 ,no  wonder a     
,carlyle or a ,ruskin puts our whole    

industrial civilization  under a ban1   
while a ,tolstoi proclaims a return to  
the desert4 ,but the  only way to see   
the situation steadily1 and to see it as
 a whole1 is to  keep in mind that the  
entire problem is one of the development
 of  science1 and of its application to 
life4 ,our control of nature1 with  the 
accompanying output of material         
commodities1 is the necessary result  of
 the growth of physical science--of our 
ability to state things as              
interconnected parts of a mechanism4    
,physical science has for the time      
being far outrun psychical4 ,we have    
mastered the physical mechanism         
sufficiently to turn out possible goods2
 we have not gained a knowledge  of the 
conditions through which possible values
 become actual in life1  and so are     
still at the mercy of habit1 of         
haphazard1 and hence of  force4         
,psychology1 after all1 simply states   
the mechanism through which  conscious  
value and meaning are introduced into   

human experience4 ,as it  makes its way1
 and is progressively applied to history
 and all the  social sciences1 we can   
anticipate no other outcome than        
increasing  control in the ethical      
sphere--the nature and extent of which  
can be  best judged by considering the  
revolution that has taken place in the  
control of physical nature through a    
knowledge of her order4 ,psychology     
will never provide ready-made materials 
and prescriptions for the  ethical life1
 any more than physics dictates off-hand
 the steam-engine  and the dynamo4 ,but 
science1 both physical and              
psychological1 makes  known the         
conditions upon which certain results   
depend1 and therefore  puts at the      
disposal of life a method for           
controlling them4 ,psychology  will     
never tell us just what to do ethically1
 nor just how to do it4 ,but  it will   
afford us insight into the conditions   
which control the  formation and        
execution of aims1 and thus enable human

 effort to expend  itself sanely1       
rationally1 and with assurance4 ,we are 
not called upon to  be either boasters  
or sentimentalists regarding the        
possibilities of our  science4 ,it is   
best1 for the most part1 that we should 
stick to our  particular jobs of        
investigation and reflection as they    
come to us4 ,but  we certainly are      
entitled in this daily work to be       
sustained by the  conviction that we are
 not working in indifference to or at   
cross-purposes with the practical       
strivings of our common humanity4 ,the  
psychologist1 in his most remote and    
technical occupation with  mechanism1 is
 contributing his bit to that ordered   
knowledge which alone  enables mankind  
to secure a larger and to direct a more 
equal flow of  values in life4          
,,corrections3        page    original  
text           correction    #cd        
,,ii                      ,,ii4    #dj  
reciprocal influence    reciprocal      
influence4    ,the following sentence on

 page #bf is left unchanged3 444 he gets
 only  misleading from taking the       
psychical point of view1 ,a reprint of  
the essay  in ,educational ,essays by   
,john ,dewey 7edited by ,j4 ,j4 ,finlay7
 has 444 he  is only misled by taking   
the psychical point of view1