The Two-Dewey Thesis, Continued: Shusterman's Pragmatist Aesthetics

I owe Richard Shusterman a great debt. As I struggled to take up John Dewey's aesthetics for my dissertation topic, an encounter with Pragmatist Aesthetics 1 inoculated me against the doubts of my colleagues and advisors. I had found in this Richard Shusterman a kindred spirit, someone who also wanted to bring Dewey into conversation with George Dickie and Arthur Danto, someone who also resisted the idea that, as I was being encouraged to realize, Dewey's work was obsolete, that Art as Experience was a historical relic. And, what sometimes seemed best of all, this someone seemed eager to join the conversation on Dewey's behalf without adopting the famous murkiness of Dewey's prose.