AUC PHILOSOPHICA ET HISTORICA
AUC PHILOSOPHICA ET HISTORICA

AUC Philosophica et Historica (Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philosophica et Historica) is a multidisciplinary academic journal focused on the humanities with more than 50 years of tradition.

The journal is indexed in CEEOL, DOAJ, and EBSCO.

AUC PHILOSOPHICA ET HISTORICA, Vol 2018 No 1 (2018), 39–54

Překonávání dualismu života a umění ve filosofii Johna Deweyho a A. N. Whiteheada

[The Overcoming of the Dualism between Art and Life in the Philosophy of John Dewey and Alfred North Whitehead]

Ondřej Dadejík

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/24647055.2017.19
published online: 18. 04. 2018

abstract

In this essay the author argues that there is a close compatibility between John Dewey’s social philosophy of art and Alfred North Whitehead’s thinking about the relationship between art and life. First, the author outlines the opposition between isolationism and contextualism as two main tendencies in the field of aesthetic theory. He draws on Melvin Rader’s explanation of the chief difference between the two: an isolationist theory insists that art is distinct or even separate from the rest of life, whereas a contextualist theory maintains the integrality of art and life. The author then argues that both tendencies are implausible if considered separately, and that – despite the manifest conflict between these tendencies – both Dewey and Whitehead were able to use them to good purpose in their theories. In the second part of the essay, the author points out the similarities between Dewey’s and Whitehead’s ideas about the rootedness of art in everyday life, revealing the usually not so apparent contextualist, or social, side of Whitehead’s conception of art. Finally, in the third part, the author argues that we can usefully trace these similarities and convergences to more fundamental parts of the thinking of both philosophers, especially to their critiques of the dualisms inherent in the constitution of modern thought in general.

keywords: aesthetic experience; dualism; contextualism; J. Dewey; A. N. Whitehead

references (10)

1. Benjamin, W., Umělecké dílo ve věku své technické reprodukovatelnosti, in: Benjamin, W., Dílo a jeho zdroj, Odeon, Praha 1979, s. 17–47.

2. Cobb, Jr., J. B., Whitehead Word Book: A Glossary with Alphabetical Index to Technical Terms in Process and Reality, P&F Press, Claremont 2008.

3. Dewey, J., Art as Experience, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London 1934.

4. Haskins, C., Dewey's Art as Experience: The Tension between Aesthetics and Aestheticism, Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, roč. 28, 1992, č. 2, s. 217–259.

5. Hepburn, R. W., Contemporary Aesthetics and the Neglect of Natural Beauty, in: Hepburn, R. W., Wonder' and Other Essays. Eight Studies in Aesthetics and Neighbouring Fields, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1984, s. 9–35.

6. Kaprow, A., Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life, J. Kelley (ed.), University of California Press, Berkeley 1992.

7. Morris, W., The Lesser Arts of Life: An Adress Delivered in Support of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Electric Book Company 2000.

8. Noë, A., Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature, Hill and Wang, New York 2015.

9. Ortega y Gasset, J., Dehumanizácia umenia, in: Ortega y Gasset, J., Eseje o umení, Bratislava, Archa 1994. Rader, M., Isolationist and Contextualist Esthetics: Conflict and Resolution, The Journal of Philosophy, roč. 44, 1947, č. 15, s. 393–407.

10. Whitehead, A. N., Science and the Modern World, Pelican Mentor Books, New York 1948.

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Překonávání dualismu života a umění ve filosofii Johna Deweyho a A. N. Whiteheada is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


periodicity: 2 x per year
ISSN: 0567-8293
E-ISSN: 2464-7055

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