In The Construction of the Good, John Dewey focuses on the rise of modern science and its effects on society. He wants to explore the role that values and facts play in our interpretation of situations.

Dewey begins by claiming that doubt or insecurity creates the quest for certainty. Before there was modern science, religion had an answer to all questions about the world and any doubt was resolved by religious explanations. "Unity of thought and practice extended down to every detail of the management of life; efficacy of its operation did not depend upon thought. It was guaranteed by the most powerful and authoritative of all social institutions."(p 291) This ‘powerful authority’ was religion and it was very useful in sustaining a stable social system in times when security was hard to come by. Religion’s function was to provide certainty, but the development of science began eroding away this single reality.

Dewey defines religion as the higher realm, "consisting of the powers which determine human destiny in all important affairs"(p 290). The other relevant field of exploration was man’s own skill or mater-of-fact insight. Based on the same concept as mathematics the idea of having a purely logical and rational knowledge became very prominent. Many people began to believe that this ‘rational ideal’ was exercised in science.

Science ‘explained’ many things which lead to a questioning of the importance of religion in people’s daily lives. Science uses an experimental procedure in order to draw conclusions about a given situation. The use of the experimental method in order to determine things was changing the way one looked at the world. Now, people began looking to what had been shown through experimentation to be true (or what had been scientifically proven), instead of looking to a higher power for guidance. There became a division between religion and science. Dewey believes that between these two realms is a void which must be filled by philosophy. "Philosophy is called upon to be the theory of practice, though ideas sufficiently definite to be operative in experimental endeavor"(p 291)

Since both religion and science ‘claim to know’, the problem lies in the relationship between values and the facts. Both facts and values used to be inside the realm of religion. Religious figures claimed to have direct access to reality. With the rise of modern science, facts have become a much more exclusive realm and the role of religion in life has been displaced or minimized. Values are often seen as emanating from religious domains, where as facts are regarded as being more within the realm of science. The questions which had been answered by religion, now could be explained through scientific investigation. This differentiation has created new problems for both science and religion as well as for many people. What are we to do when these answers conflict? Due to this contradiction, religion has lost some of its ground in everyday life. It is seen as no longer preforming the function of determining one’s ‘ultimate destiny’, because this destiny can now be explained more easily by scienc e.

Today, we are no longer ‘value oriented’ in our daily activities. We are fact oriented. Values haven’t changed, only people’s values of values have changed. In other words, it is our view of the value that has changed. Dewey proposes that values direct our approach to facts, meaning that we need values to help us comprehend facts. We must have a stable source of values in order to interpret our experiences. Otherwise, we would have nothing upon which to make an evaluation. In order to say that we have made the right choice, we must first have a way of deciding what makes something right or wrong. We use a set of values in order to determine the meaning of different acts.

In modern society there has arisen a contradiction since science has one set of values and religion another. If two sets of values conflict then we have two distinct sets of values which we apply at different times. This is a problem because science and religion conflict and therefore: so do we. A difficulty arises when one adopts practical values for daily life, in addition to contradictory religious values for spiritual purposes. When does one apply each set of values? If I am hungry and see a hungry person on the street, do I feed them or feed myself? The dilemma is between applying practical values [e.g., feed myself while I am hungry] and applying religious values [feed the person who is in need of food]. Can we have two distinct sets of values and be true to both of them at the same time?

In many cases religious values and practical values oppose each other. If we accept both then we become hypocrites. How can I claim to care about the environment and drive a car which pollutes? How can one be pro-life while supporting the killing of a doctor who performs abortions or the killing of anyone for that matter? We must realize that these contradictions serve no purpose but to undermine our value system and our own logic. Emphasizing one value counteracts the other, achieving nothing but confusion.

Dewey wants to deny that we can grasp reality through faith or logic. This is because facts are always changing, meaning that what we have deduced today may not hold true tomorrow. Before the development of modern science the idea that the earth was the center of the universe was a fact, today we no longer recognize this as true. As we reevaluate different situations, we can see how ‘facts’ can be reinterpreted and re-explained. Therefore, Dewey believes that values arise out of the situation to which they apply. Meaning that we use a particular technique to achieve a goal because it works. Achieving something through practical means is empirical and natural.

The rise of modern science has broken apart the role religion had previously played in everyday life. Dewey feels that philosophy needs to 'fill the void' which has been left behind by the rise of science in contemporary life, which was previously held by religion. This is very interesting because we begin to see how our own thoughts can be as significant as "religious insight" or "scientific investigation". It is important to evaluate a concept in its location in the world before we accept it.

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