John Dewey, Robert Pirsig, and the Art of Living: Revisioning Aesthetic Education

320 Pages·2006·2.59 MB·English

by  David A. Granger (auth.)

ohn ewey, obert irsig,and
J D R P
the rtof iving
A L
palgrave
macmillan

ohn ewey,
J D
obert irsig, and
R P
the rt of iving
A L
evisioning esthetic
R A
ducation
E
David A. Granger
palgrave
macmillan
JOHNDEWEY,ROBERTPIRSIG,ANDTHEARTOFLIVING
© David A.Granger,2006.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-1-4039-7402-0
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in 2006 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-73702-4 ISBN 978-1-137-12252-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-12252-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Granger,David A.
John Dewey,Robert Pirsig,and the art of living :revisioning aesthetic
education / David A.Granger.
p.cm.
Originally presented as the author’s thesis (doctoral)––University of
Chicago.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Aesthetics.2.Dewey,John 1859–1952.3.Pirsig,Robert M.
4.Aesthetics––Study and teaching.5.Life.6.Pragmatism.I.Title.
BH39.G672 2006
111(cid:2).85092273––dc22 2006041679
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd.,Chennai,India.
First edition:September 2006
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Philip W. Jackson, who has taught me countless
lessons through his passion for finding the extra-ordinary
in the ordinary

ontents
C
Credit Lines ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Dewey, Pirsig, and the Primacy of
Lived Experience 1
Dewey and Pirsig 4
Philosophy and Literature 10
Language and Meaning 17
Cultivated Naiveté 21
1. Dewey’s and Pirsig’s Metaphysics 24
Existence as Dynamic and Static 24
Situations and the Habitual Body 33
Continuity and the Reflex Arc Concept 39
Quality and the Ancient Greeks 43
The Quest for Certainty 54
2. Metaphysics at Work 63
Naturalistic Metaphysics 64
Values, Evaluation, and Philosophy 70
Pirsig’s Value Hierarchy 84
3. Dewey’s and Pirsig’s Aesthetics 92
AnExperience 93
Art and Everyday Affairs 97
The Intractability of Art 107
The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 115
4. Pragmatist Aesthetics and Romanticism 133
Natural Supernaturalism and the Commonplace 135
Expression 152
Expression and Imagination 156
Organic Unity 164
5. The Poetics of Cultural Renewal 169
Emersonian Pragmatism and the Skeptical Impulse 170
viii Contents
The Ancient Mariner 179
Working with Language 185
Cultural Renewal and the Mountain 189
Individuality and Sociality 198
6. The Poetics of Personal Renewal 206
The Emergent Poetic Self 207
Emersonian Perfectionism 211
Narrative in Dewey’s Poetics of the Self 219
Personal Renewal and the Mountain 232
7. Learning and Teaching Art as Experience 248
Quality and Context 250
Unified Activity 256
The Space of Something, Perhaps 263
A Single Ordinary (Extra-Ordinary) Brick 268
Conclusion 273
Notes 276
Bibliography 293
Index 299
redit ines
C L
Author’s note: The author expresses gratitude for the use of material
excerpted or adapted from the following:
Excerpts from Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert
M. Pirsig, copyright © 1974 by Robert M. Pirsig. Reprinted by permission of
HarperCollins Publishers and Bodley Head, an imprint of The Random
House Group Ltd.
Excerpts from Pirsig’s Lila, by Robert M. Pirsig, copyright © 1991 by
Robert M. Pirsig. Reprinted by permission of Bantam Books, a division of
Random House, Inc., and the author.
Excerpts from The Collected Works of John Dewey—Early, Middle, and Later
Works, edited by Jo Ann Boydston, copyright © 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972,
1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987,
1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 by the Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois
University. Reprinted by permission of Southern Illinois University Press.
Goethe’s Erlkönigfrom Goethe: Selected Poems, The Collected Works, Volume 1,
edited by Christopher Middleton, poem translated by Christopher
Middleton, copyright © 1983 by Suhrkamp/Insel Publishers, Boston, Inc.
Reprinted by permission of Suhrkamp Verlag.
Chapters 2 and 5 adapted in part from “Positivism, Skepticism, and the
Attractions of ‘Paltry Empiricism’: Stanley Cavell and the Current Standards
Movement in Education,” by David A. Granger, in Philosophy of Education
2003, edited by Kal Alston, copyright © 2004 by the Philosophy of
Education Society. Used by permission of the Philosophy of Education
Society.
Chapter 3 adapted in part from “After the End of Aesthetic Experience: A
Review of Richard Shusterman’s Pragmatist Aesthetics,” by David A. Granger,
in Studies in Philosophy and Education, vol. 22, no. 1, 2003, 381–402, copy-
right © 2003 by Kluwer Academic Publishers. Used by permission of Springer
Science and Business Media.
Chapter 4 adapted in part from “Expression, Imagination, and Organic
Unity: John Dewey’s Aesthetics and Romanticism,” by DavidA. Granger, in
the Journal of Aesthetic Education, vol. 37, no. 2, Summer 2003, 46–60,