--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The function of criticism is the…" description: "\"The function of criticism is the reeducation of perception of works of art? The conception that its business is to appraise, to judge in the legal and ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb9/john-dewey-545_appraise_the-function-of-criticism-is-the-reeduca_2198341.jpg" --- # The function of criticism is the reeducation of perception… ![“The function of criticism is the reeducation of perception of works of art? The conception that its business is to appraise, to judge in the legal and moral sense, arrests the perception of those who are influenced by the criticism that assumes this task.” quote by John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb9/john-dewey-545_appraise_the-function-of-criticism-is-the-reeduca_2198341.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb9/john-dewey-545_appraise_the-function-of-criticism-is-the-reeduca_2198341.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb9/john-dewey-545_appraise_the-function-of-criticism-is-the-reeduca_2198341.jpg) > “The function of criticism is the reeducation of perception of works of art? The conception that its business is to appraise, to judge in the legal and moral sense, arrests the perception of those who are influenced by the criticism that assumes this task.” [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Criticism often claims authority to judge, which can limit how audiences perceive art, reducing open interpretation. **In simple terms:** Judging art can narrow perception. Key Takeaway Encourage open, exploratory engagement with art. Themes art criticism perception interpretation Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - museum visits - art education - creative writing Key Concepts aesthetics critical theory Questions to Reflect On - How can criticism balance guidance and openness? - When does judgment become restrictive? A Different Perspective Judgment can also provide useful standards. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Appraise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appraise/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Assuming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assuming/) [Conception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conception/) [Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) [Criticism Assumes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism-assumes-4817751/) [Criticism Reeducation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism-reeducation-4817750/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Function](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/function/) [Function Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/function-criticism-1401774/) [Influenced Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/influenced-criticism-4817752/) [Judging](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judging/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Perception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perception/) [Tasks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tasks/) [Works of art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/works-of-art/) ## Related quotes > [The function of criticism should not be confused with the function of reform.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-zelazny/the-function-of-criticism-should-not-be-confused-with-the-function-of/) [Roger Zelazny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-zelazny/) > [The Function of Criticism is the display the understand of art and re-formation of taste, there is promoting by understand and enjoyment of art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-function-of-criticism-is-the-display-the-understand-of-art-and-re/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The aim of all commentary on art now should be to make works of art - and, by analogy, our own experience - more,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-aim-of-all-commentary-on-art-now-should-be-to-make-works-of-art/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is, even that it is what it is, rather than to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-function-of-criticism-should-be-to-show-how-it-is-what-it-is-even/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The significance of a basic medium to its civilization is difficult to appraise since the means of appraisal are influenced by the media, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/the-significance-of-a-basic-medium-to-its-civilization-is-difficult/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [In judgement be ye not too confident, Even as a man who will appraise his corn When standing in a field, ere it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/in-judgement-be-ye-not-too-confident-even-as-a-man-who-will-appraise/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [Most headlines are set too big to be legible in the magazines or newspaper. Never approve a layout until you have seen it pasted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ogilvy/most-headlines-are-set-too-big-to-be-legible-in-the-magazines-or/) [David Ogilvy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ogilvy/) > [I have concluded that most PhD economists under appraise the power of the common-stock-based "wealth effect," under current extreme conditions... "Wealth effects" involve mathematical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/i-have-concluded-that-most-phd-economists-under-appraise-the-power-of/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [We must appraise civilization in relation to its territory and in relation to its duration. The character of the medium of communication tends to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/we-must-appraise-civilization-in-relation-to-its-territory-and-in/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [Appraise war in terms of the fundamental factors. The first of these factors is moral influence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/appraise-war-in-terms-of-the-fundamental-factors-the-first-of-these/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [Submit your work to interested societies for exhibition where the critics in the light of their physical well-being and according to the extent of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-j-phillips/submit-your-work-to-interested-societies-for-exhibition-where-the/) [Walter J. Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-j-phillips/) > [The right for the right's sake is the motto which everyone should take for his own life. With that as a standard of value…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-adler/the-right-for-the-right-s-sake-is-the-motto-which-everyone-should/) [Felix Adler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-adler/) > [I regarded as quite useless the reading of large treatises of pure analysis: too large a number of methods pass at once before the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-louis-lagrange/i-regarded-as-quite-useless-the-reading-of-large-treatises-of-pure/) [Joseph-Louis Lagrange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-louis-lagrange/) > [When one cannot appraise out of one's own experience, the temptation to blunder is minimized, but even when one can, appraisal seems chiefly useful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-one-cannot-appraise-out-of-one-s-own-experience-the-temptation/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [I love to ride horses, hike in the woods with Juliette and appraise Longhorns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janine-turner/i-love-to-ride-horses-hike-in-the-woods-with-juliette-and-appraise/) [Janine Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janine-turner/) ## More by John Dewey > [“The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-deepest-urge-in-human-nature-is-the-desire-to-be-important/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“Empirically, things are poignant, tragic, beautiful, humorous, settled, disturbed, comfortable, annoying, barren, harsh, consoling, splendid, fearful; are such immediately and in their own right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/empirically-things-are-poignant-tragic-beautiful-humorous-settled/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [A good aim surveys the present state of experience of pupils, and forming a tentative plan of treatment, keeps the plan constantly in view…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-good-aim-surveys-the-present-state-of-experience-of-pupils-and/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Experiences in order to be educative must lead out into an expanding world of subject matter, a subject matter of facts or information and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/experiences-in-order-to-be-educative-must-lead-out-into-an-expanding/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [A tribe, let us say, is warlike. The successes for which it strives, the achievements upon which it sets store, are connected with fighting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-tribe-let-us-say-is-warlike-the-successes-for-which-it-strives-the/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [The phrase "think for one's self" is a pleonasm. Unless one does it for one's self, it isn't thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-phrase-think-for-one-s-self-is-a-pleonasm-unless-one-does-it-for/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Doctrine that eliminates or even obscures the function of choice of values and enlistment of desires and emotions in behalf of those chosen weakens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/doctrine-that-eliminates-or-even-obscures-the-function-of-choice-of/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract. The notion that some subjects and methods and that acquaintance with certain facts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/there-is-no-such-thing-as-educational-value-in-the-abstract-the/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Men live in a community in virtue of the things which they have in common; and communication is the way in which they come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/men-live-in-a-community-in-virtue-of-the-things-which-they-have-in/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [We can have facts without thinking but we cannot have thinking without facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/we-can-have-facts-without-thinking-but-we-cannot-have-thinking/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [But progress in knowledge has made us aware of the superficiality of Plato's lumping of individuals and their original powers into a few sharply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/but-progress-in-knowledge-has-made-us-aware-of-the-superficiality-of/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Even the alleged benefits of war, so far as more than alleged, spring from the fact that conflict of peoples at least enforces intercourse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/even-the-alleged-benefits-of-war-so-far-as-more-than-alleged-spring/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“When the organization called soul is free, moving and operative, initial as well as terminal, it is spirit. Qualities are both static, substantial, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/when-the-organization-called-soul-is-free-moving-and-operative/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Since in reality there is nothing to which growth is relative save more growth, there is nothing to which education is subordinate save more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/since-in-reality-there-is-nothing-to-which-growth-is-relative-save/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Creative thinking will improve as we relate the new fact to the old and all facts to each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/creative-thinking-will-improve-as-we-relate-the-new-fact-to-the-old/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) [Explore all 486 John Dewey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) ## More Appraise quotes > [When one cannot appraise out of one's own experience, the temptation to blunder is minimized, but even when one can, appraisal seems chiefly useful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-one-cannot-appraise-out-of-one-s-own-experience-the-temptation/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [I regarded as quite useless the reading of large treatises of pure analysis: too large a number of methods pass at once before the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-louis-lagrange/i-regarded-as-quite-useless-the-reading-of-large-treatises-of-pure/) [Joseph-Louis Lagrange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-louis-lagrange/) > [The right for the right's sake is the motto which everyone should take for his own life. With that as a standard of value…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-adler/the-right-for-the-right-s-sake-is-the-motto-which-everyone-should/) [Felix Adler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-adler/) > [Submit your work to interested societies for exhibition where the critics in the light of their physical well-being and according to the extent of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-j-phillips/submit-your-work-to-interested-societies-for-exhibition-where-the/) [Walter J. Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-j-phillips/) > [Appraise war in terms of the fundamental factors. The first of these factors is moral influence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/appraise-war-in-terms-of-the-fundamental-factors-the-first-of-these/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [We must appraise civilization in relation to its territory and in relation to its duration. The character of the medium of communication tends to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/we-must-appraise-civilization-in-relation-to-its-territory-and-in/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [I have concluded that most PhD economists under appraise the power of the common-stock-based "wealth effect," under current extreme conditions... "Wealth effects" involve mathematical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/i-have-concluded-that-most-phd-economists-under-appraise-the-power-of/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [Most headlines are set too big to be legible in the magazines or newspaper. Never approve a layout until you have seen it pasted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ogilvy/most-headlines-are-set-too-big-to-be-legible-in-the-magazines-or/) [David Ogilvy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ogilvy/) > [In judgement be ye not too confident, Even as a man who will appraise his corn When standing in a field, ere it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/in-judgement-be-ye-not-too-confident-even-as-a-man-who-will-appraise/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [The significance of a basic medium to its civilization is difficult to appraise since the means of appraisal are influenced by the media, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/the-significance-of-a-basic-medium-to-its-civilization-is-difficult/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [I love to ride horses, hike in the woods with Juliette and appraise Longhorns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janine-turner/i-love-to-ride-horses-hike-in-the-woods-with-juliette-and-appraise/) [Janine Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janine-turner/) > [The tax incentives are things the music business can emulate. If I own Yesterday by the Beatles and I go to a bank and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-thomas-king/the-tax-incentives-are-things-the-music-business-can-emulate-if-i-own/) [Chris Thomas King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-thomas-king/) > [What one needs to know in order to appraise a man morally is not: what did his mother say or do when he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-peikoff/what-one-needs-to-know-in-order-to-appraise-a-man-morally-is-not-what/) [Leonard Peikoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-peikoff/) > [How can we appraise a proposal if the terms hurled at our ears can mean anything or nothing, and change their significance with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-d-eisenhower/how-can-we-appraise-a-proposal-if-the-terms-hurled-at-our-ears-can/) [Dwight D. Eisenhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-d-eisenhower/) > [It will take a long time for women's effect on politics to register so that we may properly appraise it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-ellinwood-allen/it-will-take-a-long-time-for-women-s-effect-on-politics-to-register/) [Florence Ellinwood Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-ellinwood-allen/) [Browse all 24 Appraise quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appraise/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The function of criticism is the reeducation of perception of works of art? 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