Art as Experience

Dewey begins by distinguishing between “experience” in general from what he describes as “an experience.” He says ordinary life is full of scattered or incomplete moments. By contrast, “an experience” is something that runs its course to a satisfying close. Its parts connect and flow, with pauses that punctuate rather than break movement. He says: “An experience has a unity” (36). This pattern appears in thinking and action. In inquiry, premises and conclusion emerge within one continuous movement; the conclusion is not a separate piece but the consummating phase of the whole. Practical action is similar; while routine behavior or wavering drift lack an experienced close, integrated courses of action build significance toward an end. The non-aesthetic sits at two poles—loose, unshaped succession and rigid, mechanical arrest. 

Dewey links unity to the balance between “doing” and “undergoing” (or acting and receiving). Experience has pattern when acts and their consequences can be connected through perception; meaning lies in grasping that connection. Imbalance on either side—restless activity without reflection, or passive observation without engagement—limits experience. Emotions, for Dewey, are what binds everything together: They give an experience its particular tone; they change with the developing situation and cohere the parts into one event.