In Art as Experience, John Dewey argues that art enhances how people experience life. Specifically, Dewey stated that to fully live one 's life, they must understand and appreciate the art around them in order to enhance their everyday experience. In this paper, I will use Art as Experience as my source to show Dewey 's argument with the use of examples and artworks mentioned in the work to back it up. I will touch on the classification of art and how art can enhance experience, the different experiences that can occur, and how art is similar to life.
In Art as Experience, Dewey argues that art is more the common conception that "art is often identified with the building, book, painting, or statue in its existence apart from human experience" …show more content…
People can simply enjoy objects that they see, but Dewey states that the only way that an art work can truly enhance and make an individual 's life meaningful would be if they understood all of the concepts and aspects of that particular work (p.4). Art can only be effective in enhancing a person 's life if they try to critique and understand the work, otherwise the art will not effectively show it 's complete purpose and a person will only have a common experience(p.3). An example of this can be seen in objects as simple as flowers. Dewey says that "if one sets out to understand the flowering of plants, he is committed to finding out something about the interactions of soil, air, water and sunlight that condition the growth of plants" (p.4). This statement shows that once someone has the knowledge of all of the aspects that are included in the flowering process of a plant, they can then appreciate it on a deeper level than just thinking it is pretty, which in return creates an aesthetic, or enhanced, experience that a person gets when they look at a flower, or in Dewey 's case any object. People’s lives are not enhanced just because they know information about how things work together to make a single piece of art, rather they need to have to a craving for wanting to understand everything that they …show more content…
Dewey says that everyone perceives nature, or their environment, differently due to how their senses interact with the environment (p.22). The senses and intellect of a person are always communicating with each other as they try to perceive objects (p.22). Dewey states that “since sense-organs with their connected motor apparatus are the means of this participation” they can determine how a person experiences life (p.22). If people can understand how art is meaningful, they can then see how their own life is meaningful. Dewey believes that people gain an esthetic quality in their life experiences once they observe an experience after it occurred, both good and bad, and see how everything came together (p.39). This, Dewey says is what creates a good life. Dewey says that these connections can be made because of the narratives given to people through art, making aspects of your life
In Art as Experience, Dewey argues that art is more the common conception that "art is often identified with the building, book, painting, or statue in its existence apart from human experience" …show more content…
People can simply enjoy objects that they see, but Dewey states that the only way that an art work can truly enhance and make an individual 's life meaningful would be if they understood all of the concepts and aspects of that particular work (p.4). Art can only be effective in enhancing a person 's life if they try to critique and understand the work, otherwise the art will not effectively show it 's complete purpose and a person will only have a common experience(p.3). An example of this can be seen in objects as simple as flowers. Dewey says that "if one sets out to understand the flowering of plants, he is committed to finding out something about the interactions of soil, air, water and sunlight that condition the growth of plants" (p.4). This statement shows that once someone has the knowledge of all of the aspects that are included in the flowering process of a plant, they can then appreciate it on a deeper level than just thinking it is pretty, which in return creates an aesthetic, or enhanced, experience that a person gets when they look at a flower, or in Dewey 's case any object. People’s lives are not enhanced just because they know information about how things work together to make a single piece of art, rather they need to have to a craving for wanting to understand everything that they …show more content…
Dewey says that everyone perceives nature, or their environment, differently due to how their senses interact with the environment (p.22). The senses and intellect of a person are always communicating with each other as they try to perceive objects (p.22). Dewey states that “since sense-organs with their connected motor apparatus are the means of this participation” they can determine how a person experiences life (p.22). If people can understand how art is meaningful, they can then see how their own life is meaningful. Dewey believes that people gain an esthetic quality in their life experiences once they observe an experience after it occurred, both good and bad, and see how everything came together (p.39). This, Dewey says is what creates a good life. Dewey says that these connections can be made because of the narratives given to people through art, making aspects of your life