Abstract

While it is widely held that intrinsic and instrumental values are essentially incompatible, John Dewey's analysis of aesthetic experience shows that aesthetic activity offers renewed satisfaction precisely because it is both enjoyable and productive of further enjoyment. In the attempt to develop this insight, I examine how Dewey's notion of integrated means-ends can be expanded to include activities, life, and community. Intrinsic and extrinsic values are integrated, I argue, when the challenges of activity match our skills and experience, activities in life are productive, supportive, and offer variety, and individuals within communities participate in the construction of public values. This project is important not only because it clarifies and extends Dewey's moral and political thought, but also, because it offers an ideal of human satisfaction unique to the history of philosophy