John Dewey's Theory of Criticism

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The attempts to explain the criterion of art criticism can be divided into three directions. The first is that there is a universal criterion of criticism. The second is that criticism is a subjective impression of each critic. Therefore, there is no universal criterion beyond a subjective impression. The third is that denies both claims. It tries to and the objective criterion which is neither universal nor subjective. In this paper, I will see how John Dewey criticizes the first two theories and holds the third theory. Dewey's denial of the first theory can be seen in his view of the judical criticism. The judical criticism claims that art criticism can be made on the universal criterion, as judical decision can be made on the general rule supposed to be applicable to all cases. But Dewey claims that the judical criticism cannot explain what makes the artist the 'masters'. Defining art as an experience, Dewey claims that art is a process of doing and undergoing, and that art is essentially an interactive activity between men and his environment As environment changes, the experience of the environment also changes. So art should accept the possibility of new experience. But, since the judical criticism advocates of the universal criterion which cannot allow the changeability, Dewey denies it. On the other hand, Dewey's denial of the second theory can be seen in his view of the impressionist criticism. The impressionist criticism claims that criticism is to clarify the impression which is consisted of feeling and imagery the art object evokes. To this claim, Dewey replies that to clarify an impression is to analyze it, and analysis can proceed only by going beyond the impression to the judgement. As we have seen so far, Dewey has denied the judical criticism that there is a universal criterion supposed to be applicable to all criticism. He has also denied the impressionist criticism that there are only subjective responses to the art object, and hence that there is no criterion of criticism at all. For Dewey, these two criticism are based on the same false assumption of the criterion, although their conclusions are different from each other. Both the judical and impressionist criticism failed to realize the difference between the meaning of the criterion as applied in measurement and as used in criticism. Criticizing of these two views of criticism, Dewey claims that there is an objective criterion which is neither universal nor subjective. Art criticism is objective in tv#o senses, i. e., in the first sense that it can be judged by the properties of the art object and in the second sense that it can be verified by the communities of the critics.