  Dewey criticises classical liberalism for conceiving of the individual as “something given, something already there”, prior to society and for viewing social institutions merely as instruments for coordinating the interests of pre-social individuals. Instead, he argues, social institutions are “means for creating individuals” (Reconstruction in Philosophy, MW12, 190-192). In this way, classical liberalism exemplifies what Dewey describes as “the most pervasive fallacy of philosophical thinking” (“Context and Thought”, LW5, 5). This is the tendency to divide up experienced phenomena, and to take the distinct analysed elements to be separate existences, independent both of the analysis and of each other. That this abstraction is in particular circumstances essential for inquiry is an important theme in Dewey’s philosophy. But this abstraction goes wrong “whenever the distinctions or elements that are discriminated are treated as if they were final and self-sufficient” (“Context and Thought”, LW5, 7), as when classical liberalism treats the individual as “something given”. Instead, he argues, a genuine: