ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author argues that for John Dewey, technology - material and political - is the necessary condition of genuine democracy. The democratic potential of this force cannot be liberated because of the social psychology of capitalism. Formal education can release technology, for it alone can transform character and establish a new social psychology consistent with democracy. The control of technology by "interest in private profit" constitutes "the serious and fundamental defect of our civilization". Dewey's advocacy of political technology entails a radical democratization of political power. The human potential of science and technology has been denied us by capitalist property relations. Dewey was indifferent to political economy because he interpreted technology too abstractly and idealistically; since technology implied peace, political economy was superfluous. Dewey argues that men are not primarily rational animals: "Man is a creature of habit, not of reason nor yet of instinct". Human nature is originally ambiguous.
