The year 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of John Dewey's birth and also the 75th anniversary of the publication of his aesthetic masterpiece "Art as Experience"--a book that has been extremely influential within the field of aesthetics, not only in philosophical aesthetics and aesthetic education but also in the arts themselves. In this essay,…

After underlining the diversity of the Chinese and pragmatist philosophical traditions (which makes essentialist generalizing problematic), this paper examines the idea that a transcultural dialogue between them could generate a more resourceful new philosophy for our increasingly global culture. Since transcultural dialogue is facilitated by…

The author of this article responds to the seven papers in this journal that commented on his book titled "Body Consciousness: A Philosophy of Mindfulness and Somaesthetics." Shusterman responds to comments and criticisms made on the subjects of (1) embodiment and gender; (2) Asian cultural dimensions; (3) the somaesthetics of music; (4)…

Since the nineteenth century's interest in "art for art's sake," many thinkers have argued that art would supplant traditional religion as the spiritual locus of the increasingly secular society of Western modernity. If art can capture the sort of spirituality, idealism, and expressive community of traditional religions but without being ensnared…

What are the humanities, and how should they be cultivated? With respect to this crucial question, opinions differ as to how widely the humanities should be construed and pursued. Initially connoting the study of Greek and Roman classics, the concept now more generally covers arts and letters, history, and philosophy. But does it also include the…

In the introduction of "Performing Live", Richard Shusterman challenges the reader to decide of the book, "Do its diverse texts manifest an individual style, or at least a reasonably consistent one?" In reflecting on this question, Higgins answers, "Yes." For her, the essays in the book, although written over the course of a decade, do exhibit…