Experience, art and education in John Dewey. Overturning the relationship between aesthetic and theoretical dimension in education

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of education and art in Deweyan thought, making a case for the overturning of the hierarchy between the theoretical and aesthetic dimension in educational theory. I shall pursue my attempt by drawing extensively from both Deweyan oeuvre and scholarly literature devoted to the issue. Based on those precedents, I wish to argue that Dewey conceived of both education and art as the very basis on which to deepen, intensify and enlarge experience. Moreover: the terrain where humans’ search for meaning and unity finds its fulfillment while bringing newness to the fore may be found exactly in education and art. Such an understanding comes to overturn the long-standing hierarchy between theoretical thinking, on the one hand, and aesthetic and ethics, on the other.

Keywords

• dewey
• art
• education
• newness
• experience