Dewey argues that such judgments are not static, as some have suggested, but instead demand a course of action. In replying to his critics, he emphasizes that experimental judgment is oriented not just to the testing of old ideas, but to the creation of new consequences and goods, as well. Dewey here underscores his view that the meaning of an object often changes as it becomes involved in a practical judgment. Taken together, these three essays contain an excellent account of Dewey's treatment of the relation of ends and means. He characterizes freedom in terms of the enlargement and diversification of choices, as well as their unimpeded operation.
Freedom is presented as a relative term.
It functions as both a condition and a goal in moral choice. The last two essays listed in this section are from the 1932 revision of Ethics , which Dewey wrote with James Hayden Tufts. It is the duty of each generation, he argues, to determine what principles are relevant to its particular situation. To be human is to have impulses and desires, but it is also to be a part of a society in which rights and obligations are institutionalized and in which actions are approved and disapproved by the community. The Good, he argues, should be defined neither in terms of individual impulses nor social obligations as such, but in terms of what is experimentally approv able , taking both types of considerations into account.