This thesis outlines one's overcoming of nihilism by consulting two figures,
Martin Heidegger and John Dewey. Each thinker holds a pivotal role for art, such that, a
turn to the aesthetic allows the individual to overcome this nihilistic age. I intend to
show that Heidegger and Dewey mutually inform each other's project. Heidegger is
able to shed light on Dewey's project; however, Dewey ultimately takes Heidegger's
thought a step further. Heidegger understands the current age to be overcome with
nihilism as a consequence of modern technological enframing as well the end of
classical religious sensibilities. Heidegger, like Dewey, relies on aesthetics to correct
this dilemma. Because of Heidegger's diagnosis of the problem, we can see a new
context for Dewey's thought. Dewey does not speak in the language of nihilism,
however, through Heidegger, we can see that they share a similar concern. Where
Dewey takes Heidegger's thought a step forward is in regard to Dewey's emphasis on
personal experience. This emphasis shifts the responsibility of overcoming nihilism
away from Heidegger's poet and onto the individual. Dewey understands aesthetics to
be a process of experience and art to be the culmination of this experience. This shift in
responsibility is placed upon the individual because the individual is the arbiter of their doings and sole recipient of their undergoings. Consequently, the individual bears the
consequences, and therefore the responsibility, of their experiences. Meaning, each
individual holds the tools necessary to overcome nihilism inherent in one's own
experience. The name for the process of properly weathering one's doings and
undergoings is called the aesthetic life. The turn to personal responsibility, in the
aesthetic life, allows the people to be the genesis of change rather than necessitating a
leader, or poet. A community of people engaged in the aesthetic life is understood as
democracy. Dewey's formulation of democracy, then, is not only a work of art but it
also prevents the return of nihilism through the creation of a society always creating
more possibility for its citizens.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/85954 |
| Date | 10 October 2008 |
| Creators | Craig, Benjamin Taylor |
| Contributors | George, Theodore |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, born digital |
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