Musings of Heidegger

arts education and the mall as a "debased" (Dreyfus) work of art

Frederik Pio

pp. 17-44

in: Frederik Pio, Øivind Varkøy (eds), Philosophy of music education challenged: Heideggerian inspirations, Berlin, Springer, 2015

Abstract

The article starts by investigating the phenomenology of artworks using Heidegger's notion of Seinsgeschichte (history-of-being) as a point of departure. Three different architectural structures from different epochs are juxtaposed (the temple, the cathedral, and the mall). The readings of these three structures are used as a prism to arrive at an interpretation of what we are currently in the process of becoming in our relation to artworks in general. From here the article moves on to discuss such themes as commitment, truth and school culture in the way such categories can currently be disclosed in an arts education context. Connecting such diverse categories as The Acropolis, St. John the Baptist and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit with the theme of teacher authenticity, the article offers a fresh account of the challenges currently being faced within the broad field of arts education.

Cited authors

Heidegger Martin