Toward a Fully Realized Human Being: Dewey’s Active-Individual-always-in-the-Making

This essay explores the conception of the individual in Dewey’s democratic writings. Following Dewey’s lead, I argue that it is human individuality, including our impulses, habits, and capacities, along with an appropriate environment, that represents the uniqueness and power of every individual. In achieving our individuality, we form habits to live and to grow; we strive toward a fully realized human being, while we perform a unique function in keeping the community growing. Dewey’s theory of self-construction provides a theoretical foundation for an activeindividual-as-a-societal-contributor-always-in-the -making that in turn contributes to the improvement of educational opportunities for all people. “What constitutes a true human being?” Over Dewey’s long and prolifi c career, he continued to think over this question, as he did over issues of democracy. For this thinker, democracy shouldn’t be restricted to “a political institutional device” (Jane Dewey, 1939/1989, p. 29). Dewey plainly points out, “The fundamental principle of democracy is that the ends of freedom and individuality for all can be attained only by means that accord with those ends” and “[D]emocratic means and the attainment of democratic ends are one and inseparable” (1937/1985, pp. 298-299). Democracy is something that we—people—work in a democratic way to achieve and maintain, not something out there, already made, or something duplicable, transplantable. Ultimately, Dewey points out for us, democracy lies in every individual. His words nicely remind us that to search for democracy, we need to ponder the questions, “What constitutes a true human being?” and “Who constitute the people?” I focus my discussion on the fi rst question and draw attention to people themselves or individuals in terms of self-construction. By examining Dewey’s conception of