Expression Theory
More After-Effects of Kant
 On the post-Kantian Romantic view, aesthetic
experience is often said to involve a special attitude or
form of contemplation (cf. Shelley’s poets), characterized
by its own special form of pleasure. (cf. Bell)
 In achieving this special form of pleasure, mimesis is
less important than expressive form; craft knowledge
and technical skill less important than artistic genius.
Inter alia, these sorts of things serve to distinguish ‘high’
art (fine art) from…other, less valuable, activities.
(Dayton, 126-7)
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R.G. Collingwood (1889-1943)
 Oxford ‘idealist’ philosopher,
though of a peculiar, quasi-Kantian
sort; ‘amateur’ archeologist.
 Perhaps best known for his work
in meta-philosophy -- An Essay on Philosophic Method
(1933) -- and in the philosophy of history -- The Idea of
History (1946)
 His aesthetic philosophy influenced by the idealist
theorist Benedetto Croce.
Collingwood: What is Art?
Art (properly understood) is distinct from craft
Craft:
1.
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3.
4.
5.
6.
Means / ends distinction
Planning / execution distinction
Ends thought out first, then means selected
Raw material / finished product distinction
Form / matter distinction
Hierarchy of crafts re: inputs and outputs
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The “Technical Theory of Art”
 As we’ve seen, Plato and Aristotle (and many people to
this day) simply assume that art is fundamentally a kind
of craft (technē): e.g., ‘poet-craft’. The poet aims to
produce certain effects in her audience; she is a good
poet insofar as she realizes her aim.
E.g., Aristotle: A well-crafted tragedy produces catharsis
in its audience. (Recall: the ‘tragedy pill’)
 Collingwood: In the present, people mistakenly try to
explain art in terms of economics and psychology,
claiming that the artist is specialized in the satisfaction of
certain desires (133).
Amusement and ‘Magic’ Art
 Collingwood does not insist that art and craft are
mutually exclusive: Art often requires craftsmanship
(see, e.g., filmmaking, architecture, etc.) and this does
not automatically disqualify it from being ‘art proper’.
But some things that we call ‘art’ are in fact merely craft,
according to Collingwood.
 Amusement Art: End = production and discharge of
pleasurable emotion in the audience/viewer
 Magic Art: End = arousal of emotions (without
discharge) so as to become “effective agents in practical
life”
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Art (In Contrast to Craft) I
 An artist may aim at an end (a certain state of mind in an
audience), but if she fails to attain that end, has she
necessarily produced bad art? (134)
The audience may simply not ‘get it’.
 Artists do not necessarily have a definite plan in mind.
Unplanned works of art are possible (especially in nonartifactual art forms like poetry, where art and craft need
not extensively overlap).
 Similarly, artists do not necessarily use raw material in
the same sense as craftspersons
What is the ‘raw material’ of a poem? Words? Yes, but
not in the same sense that iron is the raw material from
which a horseshoe is made.
Unlike the blacksmith, the poet does not first have
particular words and then form them into a poem. (Not
ever?)…
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‘Raw Material’
 A poet may have certain emotions that get converted
into a poem (Heine: “Aus meinem grossen Schmerzen
mach’ ich die kleinen Lieder”)
But, says Collingwood, “this conversion is a very
different kind of thing from the conversion of iron into
horseshoes” – the emotion is all that artist really needs.
Which is to say, when it comes to ‘art proper’, emotion
isn’t really the raw material of the art work – for
Collingwood emotion is the art work.
Art (In Contrast to Craft) II
 All works of art (indeed, all material things) have form,
but there is no necessary distinction in works of art
between form and matter.
“…when a poem is written, there is nothing in it of which
we can say, ‘this is a matter which might have taken on a
different form’” (136)
 No hierarchy of inputs: “When a poet writes verses for a
musician to set; these verses are not means to the
musician’s end” – the verses become part of the finished
art work, they are not left behind or ‘used up’.
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Expression: Collingwood
 Art expresses emotions (as opposed to describing or
betraying them). But not just any generic emotion;
individuated emotions.
The true artist creates (imagines) this expression—as
opposed to planning or producing it. (Question:
Intentionally?)
 So the ‘work of art proper’ is not the tangible object that
the artist makes, but an imaginary object—a work of
imagination, but it is none the less real for that.
The work of art is “an imagined experience of total
activity” (155)
The audience, in turn, ‘re-imagines’ this expression:
“the hearer who understands [the artist] has the same
thing in his mind…” (146)
“the actor… [uses] a system of expressions, or
language, composed partly of speech and partly of
gesture, to explore his own emotions: to discover
emotions in himself of which he was unaware, and, by
permitting the audience to witness the discovery, enable
them to make a similar discovery about themselves…”
(147)
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Collingwood in a Nutshell
“By creating for ourselves an imaginary experience or
activity, we express our emotions; and this is what we
call art.” (155)
 Note an implication: We can’t necessarily answer the
question of whether something is a work of art simply by
looking at it (listening to it, reading it…)
 In fact, on Collingwood’s view, we know that something
is a work of art primarily on the basis of how it came to
be…and what we, in turn, come to make of it.
Collingwood in a Nutshell
“By creating for ourselves an imaginary experience or
activity, we express our emotions; and this is what we
call art.” (155)
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Some Worries About Expression Theory
 Collingwood’s expression theory holds that the ‘true’
work of art is the imaginary object by which a clarified
and individuated emotion is given expression.
And, for some works of art (a simple love song,
a n imaginary object
Rembrandt’s paintings), this may seem quite compelling.
 Yet there seem to be many apparent counter-examples.
What individuated emotion is expressed in a Bach
fugue? In Duchamp’s Fountain? And must that emotion
have preceded and caused the work? These
assumptions seem arbitrary…
 Relatedly, some complex art works (e.g., Shakespeare’s
plays, novels like War and Peace) may include a wide
array of emotions. Emotion may be an important part of
such works, but it seems arbitrary to insist that one
individuated emotion is expressed by them.
 So, insofar as Collingwood’s expression theory is
intended as a definition, it seems, in these respects, too
narrow: It excludes works that many people would insist
on calling art.
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And Some More
 Why should I care about the artist’s emotional
expression? Why is art valuable? (Leaving aside
‘economic’ or ‘psychological’ considerations.)
At some points Collingwood suggests that the emotions
evoked by art are aroused for the sake of an enjoyable
experience. Fair enough. But that’s true of craft as well
(‘sob-stuff’, comics).
 Collingwood’s claim that the emotions expressed in art
proper are clarified, precise, individuated, (as opposed to
generic), suggests a response…
‘Self-Discovery’
 …namely, that by ‘re-imaging’ the imaginary object, the
precise expression of an individuated emotion, we are
‘making a discovery about ourselves’.
Probably this is true of some experiences of art. (Indeed
it’s sometimes offered as a justification for including art
in school curricula.)
 But, if this is supposed to be a definition of ‘art proper’,
doesn’t it set the net far too wide?
Consider: Psychotherapy
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Dewey: Art as Experience
John Dewey (1859-1952)
 American philosopher, co-founder
(with C.S. Peirce and William
James) of the pragmatist tradition
in philosophy.
 Educational reformer: The Laboratory
School at the University of Chicago;
Teachers College at Columbia U.
 Social reformer: Women's suffrage; unionization of
teachers; Commission of Inquiry into the charges against
Leon Trotsky, etc., etc…
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Pragmatism
 As its name suggests, a concern with the practical.
Specifically, an account of truth, meaning, and value in
terms of the practical consequences of human actions.
C.S. Peirce: "Consider what effects, that might
conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the
object of our conception to have. Then our conception of
these effects is the whole of our conception of the
object." (PSM, 1878)
 To say that a diamond is ‘hard’ is to say that it would
scratch a pane of glass, were I to rub the diamond
against it. To say that such and such is ‘true’ is to say
that it is “useful to believe” (James)
The Work of Art as ‘Live Creature’
 In order to theorize about art, Dewey says, we must
understand a work of art, not as it is ‘in itself’ or as it is
treated in art historical tradition, but in its context:
“…the human conditions under which it was brought into
being and…the human consequences it engenders in
actual life experience” (156)
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Continuity of Art and Life
 Seeing art works as “live creatures” involves, in part,
seeing the continuity between the “intensified and
refined” experiences brought about both by art works
and by everyday experience.
For example, Dewey says, consider the Parthenon…
The Parthenon
 For the ancient Athenians, built not (just) as a work of
art, but as a civic commemoration, a central expression
of their civic religion. A place for sociality.
 The Athenians appreciation of the Parthenon was not
‘compartmentalized’ – it is not an expression of “art for
art’s sake” – an idea that, according to Dewey, the
ancient Greeks would not even understand.
 Instead, it was part of the whole context of Athenian life:
“instructing the people, commemorating glories …
strengthening civic pride” etc.
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The “Museum Conception of Art”
 Failure to see art in connection with everyday experience
leads to an off-putting view of art as remote, separate.
“The arts which today have the most vitality for the
average person are things he does not take to be arts:
for instance, the movie, jazzed music, the comic strip,
and, too frequently, newspaper accounts of love-nests,
murders, and exploits of bandits.” (157, emphasis
added)
 Partly because of the museum conception people find
‘high’ art “anemic,” – art seems unconnected with their
day to day experience…
 …but the museum conception also shares in a tendency
to valorize the “spiritual” and “ideal” over “mere matter” –
a tendency that goes back at least to Plato.
(Recall Ihde’s point about the Platonic “insensitivity to
materiality”)
 Also, the modern museum and other art institutions are
“memorials of the rise of nationalism and imperialism”
(158). (E.g., Napoleon’s plunder that formed the core
collection of the Louvre).
 In short, Dewey urges us to take art ‘off of its pedestal’ in
order to better understand it…
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Having “an Experience”
 We have ‘experiences’ all the time, but we can be
distracted from them, e.g., through interruptions or
lethargy or lack of interest.
 Having an experience, by contrast, is ‘consummatory’;
the experience has unity and it “runs its course to
fulfillment.”
That is, an experience goes somewhere. Rather than
simply dissipating or coming to an end, it reaches (it is)
the unified, individual outcome of a process.
 This happens all the time (and sometimes we even take
note of it):
“Man, that meal was an experience”
“Solving that intellectual problem was an experience”
“That practical, skillful task was an experience”
 Which is to say that, for Dewey, at least in this respect,
the experience of the artist is not unique.
(Compare: Collingwood, Shelley)
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Esthetic and Anesthetic Experience
 Dewey: Whenever things coalesce into an immediately
enjoyed ‘qualitative unity of meanings and values’, drawn
from previous experience and present circumstances,
life takes on an ‘esthetic quality’.
The Act of Expression
 Begins with an impulsion, with needs of the biological
organism.
 Impulsion meets with resistance in the world.
 Expression: Happens when we become aware of these
resistances and, acting to overcome them or deal with
them, we incorporate past experience.
But expression also requires a medium …
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 If the resistance met with in the world is too easily
overcome–“on a way smoothed and oiled in advance”–
the medium, the means, cannot be distinguished and
there is no expression.
(e.g., shoveling cereal into your mouth; giving way to a fit
of passion; freaking out)
 If the resistance is too hard to overcome – a “blind
obstruction” – irritation and/or rage may result and,
again, there is no expression.
Expression
 Expression (< ex presso, ‘squeezing out’) occurs when
external and internal forces are joined, unified, in
thoughtful action.
A Smile: An organic means of communicating delight,
when used as a means (medium), rather than a simple
instinctive reaction.
Dance and Sport: Acts once performed spontaneously
are assembled and converted into works of expressive
art. They become ‘about’ something…
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The Expressive Object
 An expressive object “says something to us” (164)
 Some theories, says Dewey, “seize upon ‘expression’ as
if it denoted simply the object.”
These theories then assume that the object must
resemble or be representative of other objects already in
existence and thereby miss out on the individual
contributions that makes the object something new.
E.g., mimetic/technical theories, Kant, Bell…
The Expressive Act
 Still other theories focus on the act of expressing and
thereby assume that the real object of expression is
simply the personal emotion(s) involved.
e.g., Shelley, Collingwood, Croce
 Both sorts of theory, says Dewey, are, in effect, half
right…
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Dewey:
“A poem and picture present material
passed through the alembic of personal
experience. They have no precedents
in existence or in eternal being. But,
nonetheless, their material came from
the public world and so has qualities in
common with the material of other
experiences.” (164, emphasis added)
Experience and the Work of Art
 So, for Dewey, the work of art is an experience (as the
title of his book suggests).
But it is not an essentially passive sensory experience –
not simply the arrangement or presentation of pleasing
colours, lines, textures, etc. (as Hume or Bell, e.g., might
have said).
 Instead, aesthetic experience always draws on a fund of
past experience (of both artist and audience), experience
that is “concentrated, enlarged, and transformed” in the
work of art.
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Dewey: Some Further Consequences
 So Dewey rejects the distinction between the artist as
the active creator and the audience as passive recipient.
The artist uses skill and perception in the creation of the
“art product,” but the “the actual work of art is what the
product does with and in experience” (i.e., the
experiences of the artist and the audience)
Community & the “Language of Art”
 Lastly, art, according to Dewey, is “the expression of the
life of a community,” a product of culture. (Cf. Freeland)
 “The esthetic quality is the same for Greeks, Chinese
and Americans” (Freeland, 64).
But that does not mean that Greeks, Chinese and
Americans are all simply responding to the same
supposedly universal properties in artworks (as Hume or
Bell might say).
Instead, the language of art has to be acquired…
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A Universal Language?
 Freeland suggests (88) that, for Dewey, the language of
art is a universal language.
But this is potentially misleading.
 Dewey says that we can learn the language of art by
entering into the ‘spirit’ of a community. (Indeed he
encourages us to do this for communities other than our
own.)
 But this is possible not so much because every
community shares a single, ‘universal’ language of art,
but because, at least according to Dewey, the basic
forms of experience are the same for all human
organisms.
Expression vs. Cognition
 So, while we have been treating Dewey as an
expression theorist (art involves the expression of
personal and common experience; the expression of the
spirit of a community), Freeland suggests (166), that we
could just as well think of Dewey as a cognitive theorist.
 Viewed that way: Art is expression alright, but it is
valuable because it reveals (and creates) our world,
providing us with knowledge and insight about our
experience and the experience of others.
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But Languages Can Also Be Lost
 So, expression is intrinsically valuable as way of ‘figuring
out’ our world; art is instrumentally valuable as means of
expression (and, not insignificantly, cross-cultural
understanding)
 But recall Dewey’s earlier point: In our culture (i.e., the
world of the ‘museum conception’), fine art has become
“the beauty parlor of civilization,” disconnected from the
lives of most ordinary people.
Our challenge, says Dewey, is to condemn and to
transform those social relations that stand in the way of
genuine aesthetic experience for everyone.
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