Chapter 4 - What Does Regard for People Imply?

Summary

The epigraph draws attention to one of Dewey’s primary ethical principles: regard for self, others, social groups, and more. Along with other theoretical implications, the principle provides a glance on how one should examine different ethical problems and situations. In addition, the principle appears to suggest his “unifying thread” of ethical thinking: that is, “moral conceptions and processes grow naturally out of the very conditions of human life” or social interactions (LW 7, 308; emphasis original). Ethical interests are not unusual or strange; they are a typical feature of life. Likewise, the principle, when informed by moral science, suggests broader, more inclusive ethical dimensions, embracing both local and global concerns for “any possible neighbor” (MW 8, 82), the “social whole” (LW 7, 300), and national and international well-being (LW 7, 366–71). Consequentially, this principle is embedded in Dewey’s fourfold description of the good or moral self, including faithfulness or trustworthiness in recognizing the claims embedded in human relationships (LW 7, 285; see also Chapter 6).