Philosophical perceptions of art and education with emphasis on the analytic philosophy of Nelson Goodman

An epistemological dichotomy involving two kinds of knowledge has evolved historically since the time of the Greeks. This has led to the isolating from one another of the functions of understanding and evaluation, and to the belief that understanding is necessary to science, whereas appreciation is the aim of art.;This thesis proposes an alternative philosophical approach, one which recognizes that the distinction between mediate and immediate experience may be illusory, that the emotions, rather than being dialectically opposed to cognition may be instruments of it, and that appreciation may be as secondary to understanding in the arts as in the sciences. It proposes that the above approach, forwarded by American philosopher Nelson Goodman, offers a new and fresh epistemological framework upon which positive advances in the education of the arts will flourish. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).;The arts, consequently, are either considered unteachable, or have focused on methods for teaching feeling and appreciation.