Throughout his career, John Dewey was a strong advocate of the usefulness and importance of scientific inquiry, particularly in relation to ethical issues. In the wake of multiculturalism, persistently troublesome ethical and social problems, and a great deal of technological, cultural, and environmental degradation, much of which has been the result of the practice of techno-science, the idea of a "science of ethics" strikes many as quaint and possibly dangerous. However, the troublesome aspect…
Read moreThroughout his career, John Dewey was a strong advocate of the usefulness and importance of scientific inquiry, particularly in relation to ethical issues. In the wake of multiculturalism, persistently troublesome ethical and social problems, and a great deal of technological, cultural, and environmental degradation, much of which has been the result of the practice of techno-science, the idea of a "science of ethics" strikes many as quaint and possibly dangerous. However, the troublesome aspects of science result largely from a failure to appreciate the instrumental character of scientific inquiry by the public and even scientists themselves. We tend to view scientific inquiry as necessarily tied to reductive materialism and related ideas of objectivity, progress, and universality. By contrast, although his writings on both science and ethics are easily misunderstood, Dewey articulated a vision of science that was none of these things. Moreover, he argued that the continuity of means and ends and the sociality of conduct implicate inquiry directly in moral reasoning and deliberation. ;In this project I explicate Dewey's concepts of science, of ethics, and their relationship, by examining texts from every part of his extensive corpus. I respond to contemporary criticisms of science and, by extension, of the possibility of a scientific ethics that result from misunderstandings of both. One of my primary aims is to show how, in many ways, such criticisms do not apply to Dewey's understanding of science and that his view anticipates and serves to provide a more substantial basis for criticisms made by would-be reformers of institutional science. I also provide a comprehensive account of Dewey's ethics and answer some criticisms that have been raised against it. Finally, I argue that Dewey's account provides a sounder and more complete basis for reform than those upon which many current criticisms are based. I suggest a positive role for Dewey's ethics as a basis for many projects of social reform, specifically considering the problem of an international feminist development philosophy that is both sensitive to the variety and complexity of human experience yet provides tools for social reconstruction