Volitional Aesthetics: A Philosophy for the Use of Visual Culture in Art Education

This article is a philosophical argument that seeks to contribute to the field of art education by contributing toward and justifying a different aesthetic philosophy to support the use of visual culture in art education. Using the theoretical changes in art history and cultural theory as a backdrop, an aesthetic theory is constructed and labeled volitional aesthetics. First, it refocuses on the role of aesthetic experience and an integrated view of culture and society that situates art and the art world within culture-not as a hierarchy of cultural forms. Second, it sees people as actively participating in the creation of culture through dialog and creative choice. It will provide a new philosophical foundation for a curriculum that maintains the disciplinary structure of Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE), but broadens the category of instructional images/artifacts beyond that of fine art, to include the category of images referred to as visual culture. This contribution to theory will re-establish and reconceive the role of aesthetic experience, not only in human creativity, but also as it relates to ethics and morality.