Dewey on Science and Religion

DEWEY ON SCIENCE AND RELIGION ( ( IT IS MORE OR less of a commonplace," wrote John Dewey, " to speak of the crisis which has been caused by the progress of the natural sciences. . . . The crisis is due . . . to the incompatibility between the conclusions of natural science ... and the realm of higher values." 1 Modem science has, in other words, helped to create " the standing problem of modern philosophy": the relation of science to supernatural religion.2 In the following pages I will attempt to explain and to criticize John Dewey's resolution of the popular conflict between science and religion. This discussion will focus primarily on Dewey's philosophy of religion and will consist of four parts: a brief summary of Dewey's views on science and religion, a consideration of his contributions to the philosophy of religion, an analysis of four main assumptions latent in Dewey's humanistic naturalism, and an investigation of three critical questions which seem to be left unanswered by his resolution of the dichotomy existing between science and religion. I Dewey's views on science and religion may perhaps best be summarized in terms of three theses: (1) that the denial of supernatural religion and of the existence of a transcendent being (God) is necessary for the continuity of, and continuous progress within, the natural world; (2) that this denial is the valid result of an application of the scientific method to all realms of experience; and (3) that, once delivered from super1 The Quest for Certainty: A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action (New York, 19~9), p. 40. Hereafter cited as: Dewey, Quut. • Ibid., pp. 41, 103. See also Dewey, Reconstruction in Philosophy (New York, 19~0), pp. 173, ~11. Hereafter cited as: Dewey, Reconstruction. 658 DEWEY ON SCIENCE AND RELIGION 659 natural religion, man can divest himself of his spectator attitude which encourages desertion from human responsibilities. Since he maintains that the existence of a transcendent being (God) and of a supernatural realm of values neither has any factual basis nor is capable of unambiguous interpretation,3 Dewey concludes that man's supposed belief in God and in supernatural values should be reinterpreted according to a "purely naturalistic explanation" of human actions and events.4 Not only is there no factual basis, according to Dewey, for positing the supernatural realm, but the consequences of belief in anything tanscendent are also detrimental to mankind. Such beliefs, he maintains, are grounded in fear and arise from the false supposition that " the heart of man is totally corrupt ." 5 Hence such beliefs " must weaken and sap the force of the possibilities" inherent in men themselves,6 since they force men into the roles of corrupt and passive pawns moved by an omniscient and omnipotent God. After arguing that a denial of supernatural entities and values is essential to a high valuation of nature (thesis (1)), Dewey argues (thesis (2)) that this denial is the result of the valid application of the scientific method to all realms of experience.7 This scientific or experimental method is characterized by open or public inquiry and discovery, such that "validation [and] demonstration become experimental, a matter of consequences." 8 In other words, the hallmark of this scientific approach is the examination both of the conditions for the occurrence of specific situations and of the consequences of possible courses of action. Moreover, since " modern science no longer tries to find some fixed form or essence behind each process of change," a proponent of (Dewey's) scientific method " tries to break down apparent fixities and to induce changes." 9 3 Dewey, A Common Faith (London, 1934), pp. 2-8. Hereafter cited as: Dewey, Faith. • Ibid., p. 13. 5 Ibid., p. 5. See also p. 46. • Ibid., p. 27. 7 Ibid., pp. 11, 31, 33-34, 38-39. 8 Dewey, Reconstruction, p. 174. See also Dewey, Faith, p. 39. 9 Ibid., p. 113. 660 KRISTIN SHRADER He tries, that is, to destroy all " reliance upon precedent, upon institutions created in the past, ... upon unexamined customs, upon uncriticized tradition," so as to critically evaluate the consequences of past beliefs and therefore modify them in order to insure future consequences which are beneficial...