ABSTRACT. This paper addresses the issue of the relationship between AI and art from a Deweyan Perspective. The central idea is that Dewey’s aesthetics is a useful instrument for critically reflecting on that issue. Starting from the tenets of Dewey’s aesthetics, the discourse focuses on “imaginative recovery” and “inhabiting”, two key notions to interpret and manage the AI technology from an aesthetic perspective. Finally, the discourse looks for an answer to the question of whether AI is or not a useful tool in art. Throughout the paper, effects of AI are highlighted either in art, education, and social-political dimension.

ABSTRACT. This paper shall examine the critical possibilities of Dewey's aesthetic theory, with particular reference to his concept of 'anaesthetic experience'. According to Dewey, the aesthetic potential of ordinary experience can be frustrated through either insufficient or excessive structure, resulting in feelings of disaffection and alienation. The horizons of one's social environment are strongly implicated in the proliferation of such 'anaesthetic experience', suggesting a way of life hostile to human flourishing insofar as it inhibits opportunities for meaningful experience. Dewey's analysis of aesthetic criticism shall be discussed as an instrument of radical critique, highlighting the anaesthetic pitfalls of contemporary social reality.

ABSTRACT. Setting John Lennon’s Vocals Free?: Generative AI in light of Dewey’s Aesthetics

“Our lives do not flow evenly. Life is a thing of histories, each with its own plot, its own inception and movement towards its close, each having its own particular rhythmic movement, each with its own unrepeated quality pervading it throughout.” (John Dewey, Experience and Nature)

“Disunion of production and consumption is a common enough occurrence. But emphasis upon this separation in order to exalt the consummatory does not define or interpret either art or experience.” (john Dewey, Experience and Nature)

"In a work of art, chaos must shimmer through the veil of order."- Novalis

On November 2nd, 2023, the English rock band the Beatles released what has now been billed to be their final song entitled “Now and Then, decades after the band had broken up, and decades after two of the members had passed away. The song, originally a demo recorded by John Lennon in the late 1970’s, was brought to the attention of Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr by Yoko Ono in the 1990’s as a possible candidate to be polished up and released. At the time, the three remaining members (George Harrison died in 2001) worked on the track but were unable to complete it due to technological limitations in extracting Lennon’s vocals from the original demo. Thus, the track remained unfinished until recently, when Peter Jackson, while working on the documentary “Get Back”, had his production company develop a machine learning program that could be trained to isolate Lennon’s voice from the rehearsal halls during the making of the album “Let it Be”. This technology allowed for the completion of the song. As Peter Baker of the New York Times observed, “this new technology set Lennon’s singing free”. Is this true? Are those really John Lennon’s vocals? Not really. It's probably better to think of the vocals on “Now and Then” as a product and projection of what the generative AI “thinks” his vocals would sound like. While developments in non-coded artificial intelligence have come into the spotlight recently, in part, because of the significance the Beatles play in the history of popular music, its influence has impacted other areas of art outside of music. For instance, Christie’s auction house recently sold its first piece of AI art, “Portrait of Edmond Belamy”—for $432,500. Paris-based artists Hugo Caselles-Dupré, Pierre Fautrel, and Gauthier Vernier fed thousands of portraits into a machine learning algorithm, from which the algorithm created the portrait. Other AI image generators from 2021’s Dall-E 2 to Stable Diffusion and Midjourney have resulted, to just take a few examples, in the creation of the first AI generated magazine cover as well as artists winning art competitions using these new technologies. Unsurprisingly, there has been much debate over the status of generative artificial intelligence as it relates to artistic production. Can we attribute “creativity” to AI? Should we consider the products of AI to be “art”? Will human artists become obsolete? Some, for instance, like Marcus du Sautoy, an Oxford University mathematician and author of The Creativity Code: How AI is Learning to Write, Paint and Think, argues, in a qualified way, that, yes, the products of AI have the mark of what he calls “combinational” creativity. Others disagree. For instance, novelist and short-story writer Daphne Kalotay contends that “AI is a superb mimic and quick learner and might easily write strong works in recognizable modes, and with linguistic experimentation if prompted, but — I think — will lack true insight and experience.” Similarly, Saxophonist, percussionist, and composer Yosvany Terry, while noting that AI has been used to compose music for years in film and television, also contends that “...within jazz and creative music, music is in-the-moment composition, something that happens as musicians are collaborating onstage. That sense of interplay, or the ability to react in the moment, is something that artificial intelligence can’t reproduce because to do that requires being intelligent and having the agency to use your curiosity and your musical vocabulary.” Because much of this technology is in its infancy, there has not been a lot of analysis of its philosophical implications. This paper seeks to contribute to filling this void by looking at non-generative AI in light of Dewey’s aesthetics. After outlining what is distinctive and potentially revolutionary about this new generation of artificial intelligence, I will proceed to sketch Dewey’s aesthetic theory, by first focusing on the roots of what we commonly think of as “art” in ordinary experience. In doing so, this will allow me to draw out the relationships Dewey makes between having an experience, art, and creative action. To deepen this analysis, I’ll next draw on experimental guitarist Derek Bailey’s work on improvisation as a model for what these connections look like in practice. I’ll tentatively conclude by arguing that the products of generative AI should not be, if we take our bearings from Dewey’s aesthetics, considered art, and nor should we associate them with creative action.

Selected Bibliography Derek Bailey, Improvisation John Dewey, Experience and Nature John Dewey, Art as Experience John Dewey, “Qualitative Though” John Dewey, “Context and Thought” Larry Hickman, John Dewey’s Pragmatic Technology Larry Hickman, Philosophical Tools for Technological Culture Hans Joas, The Creativity of Action Marcus du Sautoy, The Creativity Code: How AI is Learning to Write, Paint and Think

ABSTRACT. In the United States, Black mathematics teachers have utilized practices that challenge the exclusionary structure of traditional mathematics education policy in order to ensure the success of Black and other marginalized students. Traditional mathematics education practices often reflect the work of social efficiency theorists which reject Dewey’s pragmatic vision for education and, given the high status of mathematics education, make it difficult for classical pragmatic ideals to be reflected in school communities. The findings of this paper draws upon the experiences of Black mathematics teachers and their successful challenges of the system to suggest possible ways forward for pragmatic ideals.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to theorize the understanding of teaching quality from a critical pragmatist perspective by focusing on teaching as a habit. Key concepts for the analysis include critical pragmatism, transactional realism, and speculative habits. The four terms “task-situation,” “recursive constructs,” “interconnected systems,” and “creativity” represent four tertia comparationis in the analysis of the two concepts of “routine” and “habit.” Whereas routines are linked to the repetition of others’ or the individual’s own previous experiences, habits are based on communication judging the consequences of speculative suggestions and hypothetical actions inherent in the habitual teaching situation.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, I argue that in order to understand Dewey’s idea of teaching, a distinction needs to be made between productive, educational forms of uncertainty, and destructive forms. In the first section, I explore the difference between productive, educational and destructive forms of uncertainty in learning and contend that uncertainty in learning can be considered “educational” if it enhances what Dewey calls “social ties”. In the second section, I consider Dewey’s idea of the teacher as an artist as one who is able to cultivate educational uncertainty. In the third section, I move beyond Dewey to argue that certain forms of teacher listening are essential for supporting learners to navigate their own uncertainty in educational ways.

ABSTRACT. I engage with an argument for the full inclusion of all students in the same sort of educational institution within the English education system to explore the criticality of Dewey’s work. By doing this, I hope to show that Dewey’s work can be critical of educational and societal practices/institutions (and indeed, critical of critiques of these things also) in imaginative and useful ways. However, I also aim to show that his criticality has limits. Whether the strengths of his criticality are interpreted to outweigh its limitations is likely to depend upon one’s original perspective/critical stance.

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ABSTRACT. In this paper, we look at the curricular reform known as dual enrollment (DE) in the United States, where high school students enroll in tertiary courses and earn credits. While Deweyan educational scholarship finds fault in educational reforms based on market-based logics of choice and individual pursuit of achievement (Knight-Abowitz & Stitzlein 2018), we assert that reforms like DE can be understood as very much aligned with a critical pragmatist vision of education. We use a Deweyan experiential perspective to argue the importance of DE in educational practice. We further argue that DE provides students with more flexible choices beyond traditional public high school curricula, which are often limited by political factors. As a response to such restrictive learning environments, DE can provide diverse educational experiences and pathways for students with diverse identities to pursue meaningful knowledge across institutional contexts.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, I consider youth sports as a largely unrealized space for democratic/civic education. I discuss current democratic crises, particularly related to hyperpolarization and the commercialization of public goods. Like public schools, youth sports historically have played an important role in bringing together diverse people in cooperative endeavors where they can learn democratic values. Yet the increasing privatization and capitalization of youth sports complicates this potential. I draw Deweyan ideas about the importance of voluntary association to argue for the democratic potential of youth sports, especially when designed thoughtfully to help disrupt polarization and develop habits of collaboration, trust, and teamwork.

ABSTRACT. There is a playful undercurrent to Deweyan pragmatism that is easily overlooked, especially when Dewey’s ideas are used to justify authentic and project-based approaches in formal education settings. In this session, I’ll draw upon key concepts and ideas from the study of games and play to reclaim the playful aspects of pragmatism, and demonstrate how these might be put into practice in ways that align pragmatism more firmly with critical and creative pedagogies. The session will practice what it preaches, and will be delivered through three games that exemplify the central playful principles.

ABSTRACT. Dewey's theory of the self does not explain how people can be held responsible for growing out of defunct habits without demanding they compromise their integrity or authenticity. To do this, we need to extend Dewey's framework to account for what Bilgrami calls “unrevisable” aspects of self. We consider the prospects of three such Neo-Deweyan interpretations. Unrevisable aspects of self could be habits deeply embedded in character; habits one places “self-constituting” value on; or critical features of the character structure itself. We argue that the last interpretation best accounts for unrevisable aspects of self, and best coheres with Dewey's framework.

ABSTRACT. Dewey’s rejection of external criteria of evaluation and his account of experience as interaction with the environment famously expose him to the charge of uncriticism and conformism. In my talk, I show that this charge is misplaced by arguing three theses: (1) Dewey’s work is grounded in the concept of self-realization; (2) this concept is understood in terms of “adjustment”; (3) this involves elements for criticism. My goal is thereby to present Dewey’s position as a perfectionist critical theory, i.e., as an account of human flourishing that allows individuals to challenge both their own beliefs and the values of society.

ABSTRACT. After the Second World War, the term “critical” came to be used to connote ideas vaguely associated with the Marxist critique of capitalism, but without swallowing the whole slate of Marxist commitments, i.e., smashing capitalism in violent revolution, working toward a communist society, or overt and covert activism to undermine “the system.” Rather, there was the descent of socialist and progressive views that sought reform and cast light upon older economic and political assumptions that had accompanied the rise of capitalism. Cornel West aptly called it “the ethical dimension of Marxist thought.” Gradually it was recognized that even ethical Marxism has a problem with Eurocentrism, reductionist materialism, and its own kind of imperialism, with Modernist assumptions that looked too much like the triumphal narrative of so-called Western progress. Thus, the term “critical” morphed into what one finds in with “critical ___________” fill-in-the-blank (legal studies, race theory, educational theory, economics, etc.), that is, a collection of views, often without any serious commitment to do anything (as if having a better theory is enough), only making sure that the privileged viewpoint, usually white, male, cis-gender, and Eurocentric, or anything that feels like that, isn’t allowed to pass unchallenged as the default view of anything. This kind of critique suffers from the lack of a clear programme for reform, in part, I think, due to its way of understanding the idea “critical.” In short, “critical ___________” either undermines its own constructive hopes due to the duty to be self-critical, or falls into the same egocentric silencing of dissent that created its own original energy, all of which is negative at bottom. Dewey was very much aware of the labor of the negative in this tradition, up to his own time, and would not give in to that energy, while also insisting upon the values embedded in criticism and self-criticism. Dewey advocated an idea of criticism that is more empirical, and open: critical reflection (and all reflection is critical in the relevant sense) should be given maximum range and weight in the formation of judgment. This principle applies as much to ethics as to history, epistemology, value theory, and logic. In this paper I will explain the role of reflection in Dewey’s theory of judgment and argue that such a view allows us to keep everything hopeful and valuable in critical theory, without giving in to the tendency of the labor of the negative to overwhelm us.

ABSTRACT. Composition studies, which is arguably the most significant body of university pedagogy today, has had little engagement with pragmatic philosophy. One reason why is composition studies’ critical turn when the field centered critical theory and poststructuralism as the primary frameworks driving writing pedagogy. This turn shifted the field’s emphasis to the role of ideology and authority in writing, while Dewey’s philosophy was increasingly understood as non-critical and less relevant to the concerns of composition studies. This paper aims to demonstrate the relevance of Deweyan pragmatism to contemporary composition theory through developing a naturalized theory of composition.

ABSTRACT. This paper frames Dewey’s spectator account of Knowledge in terms of epistemic vice. Construed this way, SAs can be considered defective for they offer a disembodied, disembedded, aparticularist and acontextual appraisal of epistemic agents’ experiences and claims to knowledge. This phenomenon, something Dewey of course cautioned against, is still pervasive in analytic epistemology. Contra this view, I argue that a more rounded understanding of epistemic agents’ zetetic capacities and potential for growth, much of which are found in pragmatist-informed educational encounters, provide a much needed antidote to individualistic, highly idealized conceptions of knowers and knowledge. The way forward, I suggest, is to look to pragmatist principles to see how knowledge production and sharing actually works rather than focusing on how it should work. Privileging the ideal at the expense of the real is a mistake Dewey was of course keen to flag. As such, foregrounding the merits of his objection, in conjunction with recent work in contemporary epistemology (McKenna, 2023; Greco, 2023), is a worthy pursuit for educators seeking to banish spectator approaches to knowledge production.

Section I looks to the concept of epistemic vice, focusing on what I refer to idealized epistemology, where knowers and knowledge are conceived as subjects and objects in sanitized learner environments. Section II then looks to the merits of more realistic accounts of knowledge production and sharing, in particular, inter and intra personally calibrated accounts of same. Here the focus is on non-ideal environments, where less than perfect inquirers with limited cognitive capacities and time have to satisfice on occasion. The expectation here is that in looking to how inquirers actually generate and share knowledge instead of wistfully expecting the normative to reign supreme (how inquirers ought to seek out and acquire knowledge), then this will be of benefit to pedagogues and theorists, the latter who have arguably largely forgotten the pragmatic roots of epistemology.

ABSTRACT. “Critical pragmatism” has become a term of art or in fashion in the academy but I am afraid this can be understood in ways that falls short of a more “radical” direction that academics,concerned with class, legal status, race, gender, colonialization and other forms of discrimination and oppression should take in the 21st century. I argue that what a Deweyan approach requires of us today as academics is to be “critical” but also to adopt both the more creative, experimental, reconstructive, communal spirit that makes his philosophical orientation “radical”. I outline five important tasks that should be part of pragmatism’s responsibility to grow and shift in response to the social conditions of injustice.

ABSTRACT. While John Dewey is seen as foundational figure for service-learning, this field of practice has changed. New critical versions attend to racial, class, and gender dynamics, as well as new frames such as funds of knowledge, asset-based approaches, and healing justice. This essay addresses a series of questions to expand our understandings of Dewey and critical service-learning: Does Dewey offer resources relevant to issues of intersectionality in community-based pedagogies? Or does this call for rethinking of Dewey’s foundational influence on service-learning? Conversely, how might insights from critical service-learning help us reflect and critique Dewey’s educational philosophy?

ABSTRACT. As we have aware of the consequences of Western-centric prejudices within the education paradigm, it is imperative that school improvement efforts be undertaken to dismantle the entrenched bias and cultivate cultural pluralism at the school level. In this essay, we hope to explore the implementation of a whole-school approach to address the western-centric biases in the learning environment, placing emphasis on the integration of Deweyan pragmatism with a critical and reflective stance. Hopefully, the essay will uncover the logics underlying the school improvement strategy and shed some lights on the application of Dewey's educational theories in the non-Western school settings.

ABSTRACT. In contrast to what Fraser (1999) has called the “overly integrative and idealist” visions of the classical pragmatists, African American philosophers such as Alain Locke and Eddie Glaude have foregrounded the indelible history of racial oppression and segregation within the U.S. and theorized the need for analysis and intervention at the subcultural level. Their treatments of cross-cultural discursive exchange and spiritually inspired activism, respectively, and of the ways in which race-based solidarities may be implicated in efforts toward racial liberation provide provocative context for reflections on the potential contributions of other kinds of subcultural enclaves to a vibrant democracy.