Postface. Pour une esthétique hétéronome et plurielle

By discussing the essays collected in the volume, Roberta Dreon's paper focuses on the reasons that justify the very idea of a pragmatist aesthetic. This is done by considering that the association between the traditional, contemplative, disinterested, and anti-instrumental conception of aesthetic experience seems to preclude the possibility of characterizing it in practical or pragmatic terms. The author argues that this is achieved on the one hand by a rethinking of the very notion of the "aesthetic" found in the philosophies of James and Dewey. This allows for supporting the idea that artistic practices are grounded in ordinary experience, and particularly in their aesthetic-qualitative aspects. On the other hand, the author argues that Dewey's aesthetics was convincingly pragmatist to the extent that it lucidly focused on the consequences of the autonomist conception of art and proposed a continuist, meliorist, and pluralist alternative capable of providing effective contributions to democratic and inclusive development.