Continuity & Discontinuity:
Dissolving the Effect
of Discontinuity
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Speaking of the creation of community and the role of art
in this, Dewey says that "Only an expansion of experience
that absorbs into itself the values experienced because of
life-attitudes, other than those resulting from our own
human environment, dissolves the effect of discontinuity"
(Art as Experience, LW10: p. 339). This is a plea for
communication and participation across the boundaries of
existing communities.
The passage that follows, I'd like to quote more fully,
since it seems to me to expand on the claim in ways that
might prove useful to our own community of discourse here
on the Dewey-l. "The Problem in question," Dewey says, "is
not unlike that we daily undergo in the effort to under-
stand another person with whom we habitually associate."
All friendship is a solution of the problem.
Friendship and intimate affection are not the
result of information about another person even
though knowledge may further their formation.
But it does so only as it becomes an integral
part of sympathy through the imagination. It is
when the desires and aims, the interests and
modes of response of another become an expansion
of our own being that we understand him. We learn
to see with his eyes, hear with his ears, and
their results give true instruction, for they are
built into our own structure. I find that even
the dictionary avoids defining the term "civili-
zation." ... However, the verb "to civilize" is
defined as "to instruct in the arts of life and
thus to raise in the scale of civilization." In-
struction in the arts of life is something other
than conveying information about them. It is a
matter of communication and participation in val-
ues of life by means of the imagination, and works
of art are the most intimate and energetic means
of aiding individuals to share in the arts of liv-
ing. Civilization is uncivil because human beings
are divided into non-communicating sects, races,
nations, classes and cliques.
Notice that Dewey is not objecting to the mere fact of
differing social formations. I take it that such dis-
continuities of the human world will always be with us.
The question concerns the response we attach, the
significance we see in the differences between human
communities and from one social formation to another.
There will always be differences to fight about if that is
our underlying inclination and attitude. Whatever differ-
ences may be resolved, there will always be new differ-
ences to play the role of markers in conflict.
Dewey aims his criticism at "non-communicating sects,
races, nations, classes and cliques." But beyond that, he
gives a particular emphasis to his talk of communication
and participation here. What needs to be communicated is
not simply information, but something that goes deeper,
something that "becomes an integral part of sympathy
through the imagination." The communication in question
here is not something external or superficial. "It is when
the desires and aims, the interests and modes of response
of another become an expansion of our own being that we
understand him." (Of course a genuine friendship is a two-
way street.) Dewey recommends our joint participation in
the project "of aiding individuals to share in the arts of
living," and it is clear that he believes the arts have a
great deal to contribute to this project.
I was particularly impressed with Dewey's diagnosis of the
sources of contemporary social problems and the relation-
ship of this to modern science. (See the first paragraph
on p. 341 for a summary.) But I don't want to make this
posting any longer than it already is. So, I will stay
with the emphasis on art and communication.
I am sure that others on the Dewey-l may be better able to
elucidate (or communicate) related points and practices.
This is the sort of thing which calls for a good deal of
"creative democracy." Also, I don't want to distract from other
discussions: I'll be away for about a week.
Howard
H.G. Callaway
University of Mainz &
Rider University