Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of art in Deweyan thought, making a case for the relationship among art, experience, and education. I will do so by drawing on both Deweyan works—primarily Art as Experience1 and chapter nine of Experience and Nature2—and scholarly literature devoted to the issue.3 Based on such precedents, I wish to argue that art plays a central function in Deweyan thought. Dewey conceived of art as the basis on which to deepen, enlarge, and make sense of experience; the place where human beings search for meaning and unity finds its fulfillment; and the means by which we may enact the primary task of education, namely, bringing newness to the fore, or in Dewey’s words...