The Work of Art as a Living System: A Deweyan Approach

This paper aims to develop Dewey’s aesthetics in relation to the epistemology of complexity. The focus is particularly on the convergence between a work of art and a living system. Indeed, a work of art, much like a living system, is a unity in variety, being integrated and differentiated. This characteristic is not the result of linear causality, for which each part affects only the contiguous aspects, but the consequence of dynamics of the whole (or, of the field) coordinating the activities of the elements through to their most remote junctions. Every part “feels” the whole, which in turn is realized via articulation in all its parts. Congruently, a work of art contains a perfect integration between “spiritual” and “sensorial” levels, between “bodily” and “ideal.” Thus, it is evident that amongst the various levels comprising a work of art, there is continuity. Ultimately, a work of art is the result of a historical process during which it advances, interacting with the medium, like a living organism that develops, acquiring articulation and volume, learning from experience, embodying and internalizing the learned meanings. In developing this perspective, the concepts of emergence and organicism will be assumed as the focal points for both Dewey’s (aesthetic) thinking and the epistemology of complexity.