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This work demonstrates the continued relevance of John Dewey’s philosophy, especially as it relates to questions at the intersection of ethics and the philosophy of mind. I begin by taking up a fundamental philosophical question: “what kind of beings are we?” I argue that the Deweyan answer is “embodied, habitual, problem solvers.” Working from this conception of human nature, I show that intelligence is continuous with - and not something apart from - the embodied, habitual, and reconstructive nature of human existence. Finally, I point to the ways in which human nature thus construed, poses a fundamental challenge to the computational and representational models of the mind. Similarly, I point to the ways in which intelligence thus construed poses a fundamental challenge to the traditional notions of the moral agent and moral deliberation. I conclude by suggesting that Dewey’s conceptions of human nature and intelligence provide a useful framework for re-thinking many of the problems associated with better understanding what kind of beings we are and how we ought to live.