Contemporary challenges in aesthetic education

Abstract

This dissertation tackles aesthetic education from the perspective gained by recent theoretical developments in epistemology, aesthetics, feminism, cultural studies, and others. It focuses on the 'visual arts' and studies how the practice of aesthetic education has been problematized by these recent theories, and finally suggests a change in attitude toward the subject. The dissertation is divided into four main parts. In the Introduction, I 'position' myself in relation to these theories and to aesthetic education. Part One is an overview of "The Modernist Legacy": in it, I demonstrate that, up till recently, aesthetic education has been firmly rooted in modernist notions of art. In Part Two, I study how these modernist notions have been challenged by recent theories related to contemporary art theory, philosophy, 'New Art History' ,and others. Part Three specifies more the educational implications of these theories and suggests possible, general objectives of a contemporary, aesthetic education.