Buch, Englisch, 288 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 242 mm, Gewicht: 591 g
Buch, Englisch, 288 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 242 mm, Gewicht: 591 g
ISBN: 978-0-19-953942-0
Verlag: Oxford University Press
The Dinka have a connoisseur's appreciation of the patterns and colours of the markings on their cattle. The Japanese tea ceremony is regarded as a performance art. Some cultures produce carving but no drawing; others specialize in poetry. Yet despite the rich variety of artistic expression to be found across many cultures, we all share a deep sense of aesthetic pleasure. The need to create art of some form is found in every human society.
In The Art Instinct, Denis Dutton explores the idea that this need has an evolutionary basis: how the feelings that we all share when we see a wonderful landscape or a beautiful sunset evolved as a useful adaptation in our hunter-gather ancestors, and have been passed on to us today, manifest in our artistic natures. Why do people indulge in displaying their artistic skills? How can we understand artistic genius? Why do we value art, and what is it for? These questions have long been asked by scholars in the humanities and in literature, but this is the first book to consider the biological basis of this deep human need.
This sparking and intelligent book looks at these deep and fundamental questions, and combines the science of evolutionary psychology with aesthetics, to shed new light on longstanding questions about the nature of art.
Zielgruppe
The Art Instinct has the potential to reach a wide audience, particularly in the humanities. It will appeal to those interested in the arts and art theory, aesthetics, the history of art, arts in different cultures, and the origins of our aesthetic sense. It presents some novel and controversial arguments in an accessible way, so it should span both general and academic readers. It will also interest science readers for its evolutionary psychology perspective.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
- Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein Kunstpsychologie und -soziologie
- Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Sozialpsychologie Kulturpsychologie, Ethnopsychologie
- Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ästhetik
- Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein Kunsttheorie, Kunstphilosophie
- Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Populärwissenschaftliche Werke
- Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologie: Allgemeines
