From a Theory of Experience to a Philosophy of Art. Dewey's Aesthetics in Experience and Nature

This paper focuses on Experience and Nature as the book in which John Dewey began to develop a philosophy of art out of his theory of experience, suggesting that his philosophy of art is an integral part of his cultural-naturalistic view of human experience and emergence. In a nutshell, if human experience consists of forms of organic interaction with a natural and naturally enculturated environment, Experience and Nature claims that the arts are modes of experience in which both instrumental and consummatory meanings are enjoyed or suffered, i.e. they are the ultimate outcomes of the complicated forms of experience characterizing human animals. The paper considers some of the main features that characterize Dewey’s first formulation of a philosophy of art in comparison with the second one, developed in Art as Experience, although within a framework of fundamental continuity. Firstly, the author argues that a key role is played by Dewey’s view of primary experience as qualitative or aesthetically characterized, which precedes his characterization of the aesthetic as either the final phase of ordinary interactions or the quality of an artistic experience insofar as it is intentionally brought to its fulfillment. Secondly, she considers the cultural-historical origins and development of the concept of art in relation to other notions, such as experience, science, and contemplation, as well as Dewey’s criticism of the traditional division between useful and fine arts. Finally, she emphasizes Dewey’s conception of the arts as forms of experience characterized by a strong interweaving of both instrumental and consummatory or final features, namely as experiences in which even means are enjoyed or suffered. This view precedes Dewey’s account of "an experience" as a conceptual tool for distinguishing between eminently artistic experiences and ordinary interactions within the continuum of experience.