Dewey, Art, and Play

Dewey rejects the theory that Art is Play, primarily on the grounds that Art, but not Play, has a definite objective, and, hence, is more accurately described as 'work', though not 'toil' or 'labor'. If he has in mind, as examples of Artwork, pieces such as a book, a painting, a sculpture, or a musical score, there is no question that Art has a definite objective. However, as has been previously discussed, the example of games demonstrates that Play can entail a definite objective, e. g. checkmate, having scored more runs than an opponent at the end of nine innings, etc. But Dewey's concept of Art itself seems to fail to take into account improvisatory Art, in which, e. g. a musician is concerned with nothing beyond producing a new sound that is an interesting continuation of what has preceded, until a suitable termination point is discovered. Furthermore, his concept of Experience, as has been previously discussed, suffers from an analogous shortcoming--it arbitrarily delimits an 'experience' to being an extended sequence between a definite starting point and definite termination point. Hence, just as he cannot accommodate a concept of Experience as at every moment both becoming cumulatively complete and increasing beyond that culmination, he cannot appreciate that at every moment an Artistic objective can be both achieved and surpassed, e. g. with every note played by a musician. And, since, he insists on the significance of the term 'work' of Art, that a musician is said to 'play', not to 'work', effectively counters that insistence. Regardless, Dewey's rejection of a Play theory of Art is based on a too narrow concept of Art.