Dewey's Aesthetics and the History of Art: Three Examples from the Late Antiquity

CAMPEOTTO, FABIO; VIALE, CLAUDIO MARCELO

COGNITIO

PUCP

Lugar: San Pablo; Año: 2018 vol. 19 p. 35 - 55

1518-7187

Although John Dewey´s aesthetics has been the subject of a great amount of studies conducted through very different approaches (philosophical, sociological and pedagogical among others) there is a lack of contributions capable to recognize the linkage between Dewey´s aesthetics and the history of art. In this article we analyze three works of art from the Late Antiquity (III-VI century a. C.) mainly following Dewey?s key concepts of detour and formal analysis, in order to reconstruct the aesthetic experience of the author, the beholder and the patron of each artwork. Our purpose is twofold. Firstly we want to demonstrate that an approach based on Dewey´s theory is fruitful when it comes to studying ancient works of art. Secondly we want to demonstrate that a pragmatist interpretation of late antique art is more fruitful and less reductionist than the traditional ones (Formalist, Orientalist and Marxist).