Dear John,
This raises interesting and thorny issues.
Neither the instrumentalist nor the non-instrumentalist perspective really works for
understanding how the arts do (and don't) add dimensions to social and
organizational life.
This series of relations and correlations is also a different range of isssues than the
questions implicit in aesthetic or artistic research.
I will be the devil's advocate here -- or even the devil -- to raise the possibility that
some kinds of factors must be at play that stand outside or beyond artistic or
aesthetic sensitivity when it comes to being fully human self-reflective, feeling,
sensitive, and perceptive, as well as ethical.
Look at the lives of the artists in Wittkower's Born Under Saturn, for example, or --
more recently -- consider Picasso. These were highly developed and exquisitely
artistic human beings who functioned well in art without being "fully human" in the
terms you propose for the rest of life.
Or, from another angle, consider the deep artistic sensibilities of the concentration
camp superintendants who assembled some of the greatest symphony orchestras in
Europe. These exquisite orchestras soothed inmates on their march to oblivion and
they also played for visiting Third Reich dignitaries before themselves being
annhilated.
I won't bother recounting the many examples of human problems I encountered in
many years working in and around art. The point is that art and aesthetics may both
(or either) generate first-order knowledge or second-order knowledge, and they may
either (or both) be instrumental or non-instrumental without entailing full humanity or
virtue.
I'm not arguing that art is bad. Quite the contrary.
Nevertheless, I propose that we must conssider a richer mix if we are to discuss the
relationship between art and what it is to be fully human.
Best regards,
Ken Friedman
On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 05:15:43 +0000, John Churchley
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>An interesting question.
>
>At our arts school we believe in teaching all curricula through the arts. However,
such a belief can put the arts into a 'second class' instrumentalist role. Nonetheless,
it works very well, and I'm constantly telling this to parents, media, etc.. Therefore, I
find myself in the conundrum of wanting aesthetics in education for the sake of
aesthetics on one hand, and on the other arguing for instrumentalist aesthetics
because it serves a useful function – the “second order” knowing to which Stefan
refers.
>
>What helps me out a bit with this dilemma is the idea that although research points
towards arts-informed education as improving student achievement, this relationship
is not cause-effect (at least not in the research that I’ve seen). I think that it is a
positivist fallacy to look for cause-effect relationships between aesthetic
study/practice and non-aesthetic study/practice. Social science has shown that
these can be correlations at best. To do such positivist research is truly to put
aesthetics in an instrumental (second order) role. Unfortunately, I expect that some
managers go to organizational aesthetics workshops with this positivist attitude,
wanting ‘proof’ that this study will help their leadership, business, etc. - hence
Jurgen's comments.
>
>Aesthetics in general education, aesthetics in business, and aesthetics in
management education are still highly successful. If we look at research in these
areas with an aesthetic way of knowing, rather than a positivist way, we will discover
the first order knowledge that enhances the second order learnings in leadership,
management, engineering, etc.
>
>I think that this first order aesthetic knowledge is to BE more fully human –
self-reflective, feeling, sensitive, perceptive, etc. Therefore, painting, singing,
photography will make you a better theoretician…or engineer, or whatever. Just
don’t ask me to PROVE it - doing so becomes positivist again, and relegates
aesthetic knowing back to second class again.
>
>John Churchley
>[log in to unmask]
>
>Principal
>Beattie Elementary School of the Arts
>Kamloops BC CANADA
>[log in to unmask]
|