Synopses & Reviews
The Art Instinct combines two of the most fascinating and contentious disciplines, art and evolutionary science, in a provocative new work that will revolutionize the way art itself is perceived. Aesthetic taste, argues Denis Dutton, is an evolutionary trait, and is shaped by natural selection. It's
not, as almost all contemporary art criticism and academic theory would have it, "socially constructed." The human appreciation for art is innate, and certain artistic values are universal across cultures, such as a preference for landscapes that, like the ancient savannah, feature water and distant trees. If people from Africa to Alaska prefer images that would have appealed to our hominid ancestors, what does that mean for the entire discipline of art history? Dutton argues, with forceful logic and hard evidence, that art criticism needs to be premised on an understanding of evolution, not on abstract "theory." Sure to provoke discussion in scientific circles and an uproar in the art world,
The Art Instinct offers radical new insights into both the nature of art and the workings of the human mind.
Denis Dutton is the founder and editor of the hugely popular Web site
Arts & Letters Daily, named by the
Guardian as the best Web site in the world. He also founded and edits the journal
Philosophy and Literature, and is a professor of the philosophy of art at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Denis Dutton's
The Art Instinct combines two fascinating and contentious disciplinesart and evolutionary sciencein a provocative new work that will change forever the way we think about the arts, from painting to literature to movies to pottery. Human tastes in the arts, Dutton argues, are evolutionary traits, shaped by Darwinian selection. They are not, as the past century of art criticism and academic theory would have it, just socially constructed.”
Our love of beauty is inborn, and many aesthetic tastes are shared across remote culturesjust one example is the widespread preference for landscapes with water and distant trees, like the savannas where we evolved. Using forceful logic and hard evidence, Dutton shows that we must premise art criticism on an understanding of evolution, not on abstract theory.” He restores the place of beauty, pleasure, and skill as artistic values.
Sure to provoke discussion in scientific circles and uproar in the art world, The Art Instinct offers radical new insights into both the nature of art and the workings of the human mind. "[Duttons] discussion of the arts and of our responses to them is uniformly insightful and penetrating . . . he touches on all the major issues of aesthetics in this fairly short book and invariably illuminates them . . . Duttons eloquent account sheds light on the role art plays in our lives, whatever its ultimate origins"Anthony Gottlieb, The New York Times Book Review "[Duttons] discussion of the arts and of our responses to them is uniformly insightful and penetrating . . . he touches on all the major issues of aesthetics in this fairly short book and invariably illuminates them . . . Duttons eloquent account sheds light on the role art plays in our lives, whatever its ultimate origins"Anthony Gottlieb, The New York Times Book Review
"The Art Instinct is a brisk, bracingly confident performance . . . an unusually stimulating venture in aesthetics."Julian Bell, The New York Review of Books
"An important book that raises questions often avoided in contemporary aesthetics and art criticism . . . He has woven a powerful plea for the notion that art expresses a longing to see through the performance or object to another human personality."Michael S. Roth, Los Angeles Times
"As he observes in his provocative new book, The Art Instinct, people the world over are weirdly driven to create beautiful things . . . Dutton is an elegant writer, and his book should be admired for its attempt to close the gap between art and science."Jonah Lerner, The Washington Post
"A hard-hitting amalgamation of critical theory and evolutionary science . . . Cogent and exhilarating."The Atlantic Monthly
"A substantial contribution to the debate we ought to be having."Martin Kemp, New Scientist
"Mr. Dutton's book is anything but strident. He argues his thesisthat art-making evolved among humans as a means of demonstrating physical and cognitive fitness to potential mates, and that this fundamental reality provides the best answer we can give to the question What is art?”with almost old-fashioned politeness toward his adversaries. And that, perhaps, is the best way to read The Art Instinct: as a guided tour of the great landmarks of the philosophy of artaesthetic theory explained, modified and refuted with patience and fluency by a writer whose mind was apparently formed well in advance of the meme-ocracy it helped to create."Damian Da Costa, New York Observer
"This book marks out the future of humanitiesconnecting aesthetics and criticism to an understanding of human nature from the cognitive and biological sciences . . . A bold and original contribution."Steven Pinker, author of How the Mind Works and The Stuff of Thought
"Denis Dutton's title is also his conclusion. In 250 elegant pages, he demonstrates that aesthetics are linked at the profoundest level to our biological and cognitive prehistory, and that our 'tastes'those famously wavering and manipulable urgesemerged in the Pleistocene, and haven't changed in essentials since then."Brian Morton, The Guardian (UK)
"A wonderful, mind-changing book . . . a rich and persuasive argument for the centrality of art in our evolution . . . Dutton's arguments are coherent and convincing."Peter Forbes, The Independent (UK)
"Dutton's prose is direct, entertaining and stylish. He never pulls his punches. Unlike most works on aesthetics, this book is a great read."Nigel Warburton, Prospect (UK)
"Matching such a refined sensibility to the explanatory demands of Darwinian biology makes The Art Instinct a riotousand irresistibly followablemarriage."Edmund Fawcett, Royal Academy Magazine (UK)
"The Art Instinct gives a comprehensive survey of the field, written with fluency, wit, and wide erudition."John Derbyshire, New Criterion
"Why do we human beings make art? . . . That is the question raised and answered, more or less, in this intriguing book. Author Dennis Dutton teaches philosophy, has done archaeological work in New Guinea and is founder of the popular Arts & Letters Daily Web site. Art's appeal, he argues, is lodged in our genes and in the genes of our Ice-Age ancestors, those shaggy forebears who first painted cave walls and told stories around the campfire."Dallas Morning News
"If you care about art writ large as a miraculous bounty for the world, or only for your own selfish sake, The Art Instinct should impress you as the most shrewd, precisely written and provocative study you'll find on its topic's place in human nature."Philadelphia Inquirer
"The Art Instinct offers fresh and liberating ideas while demonstrating Dutton's profound sense of curiosity and his willingness to take risks while dealing with puzzling and largely fragmentary pre-history."Robert Fulford, National Post (Canada)
"Dutton brings to this task a gentle and incisive wit, abundant learning well-grounded in the social sciences and humanities, and an infectious enthusiasm for art and humanity of all sorts."Peter Berkowitz, Policy Review
"[A] peacock's tail of a book. Taking us on a world tour of creative masterpieces and exploiting a rich spectrum of the mind's resources, Dutton succeeds in persuading us that we will never understand human culture unless we understand human nature."John Onians, Wilson Quarterly
"Full of observations that again demonstrate [Dutton's] uncanny ability to collect complex arguments and present them as thought-provoking statements."James Panero, City Journal
"Vigorous and wonderfully provocative."Todd Shy, Raleigh News & Observer
"Pugnacious, witty and entertaining first book by prolific essayist and critic Dutton . . . Picking up where evolutionary psychologists like Steven Pinker leave off in their investigations into the origins of human language and other mental phenomena . . . even those who disagree with these opinions will find his manifesto scintillatingly written and not to be missedeven the end notes are indispensable . . . Promises to instigate a lively conversation about the origins and meaning of art, not only among the authors peers in academia, but also in the culture at large."Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Founder and editor of the highly trafficked Web site Arts & Letters Daily, Dutton proposes a fascinating account of the possible evolutionary roots of aesthetics and the arts. Taking off from a meditation on America's Most Wanted, a painting done in the mid-1990s by expatriate Soviet artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid to satisfy the artistic preferences of Americans as expressed in polls, focus groups, and town hall meetings, he eventually considers the full range of arts, from literature to music, carefully tracing the adaptive and sexually selective benefits in each case. Along the way, he raises many of the central issues of the philosophy of art, including the definition of art, the role of the artist's intention in interpreting and evaluating artworks, the problem of forgery, the paradox of Dada, the nature of aesthetic value, and greatness in art. Dutton's philosophically responsible and illuminating treatment of these in terms of evolutionary aesthetics, written in sprightly and jargon-free prose, cannot fail to interest and perhaps even convince readers who approach this controversial topic with an open mind. Essential. All academic and public libraries."R. Bonzon, Choice magazine
Review
andldquo;Gordon Oriansandrsquo;s book provides great insight and understanding of the role of human evolution in our species emotions and behaviors. and#160;It extends his pioneering work in evolutionary biology to many aspects of human activity that includes our preferences, predilections, fears, hopes, and aspirations. and#160;We recognize in this book how our ecological mind has meshed with our cultural and creative selves to produce our distinctive species.andrdquo;
Review
and#8220;No scholar better understands the intimate linkage between evolutionary biology and the human condition, and none has expressed it in a more interesting and well illustrated manner than Orians.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;One of the most interesting and surprising ideas I have ever come across is that what biologists call and#8216;habitat selectionand#8217; is the same as what artists and landscape architects call and#8216;environmental aesthetics.and#8217; The human eye for beauty is not an inexplicable preference for arbitrary shapes and colors but may be explained as an instinct for choosing surroundings that are safe, healthful, and informative. The eminent zoologist Gordon Orians, who originated this powerful idea, now treats us to a cornucopia of hypotheses on why certain things please the eye, ear, and tongue and others terrify, repel, or disgust them. This is a lovely contribution to our understanding of aesthetics and should keep scientists, artists, and humanities scholars debating its ideas for years to come.and#8221;
Review
and#8220; A neat, thought-provoking volume.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Orians argues that our emotional responses to aesthetics in nature are hardwired and an evolutionary legacy of our animal origins. Here, he explores the relationship between our and#8216;ghosts of environments pastand#8217; and our view of the world.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Orians has written a concise, thoughtful, and stimulating analysis of the human connectedness to nature and other organisms. Through clear writing and diverse examples, he hypothesizes and demonstrates how various forces markedly affected human evolution and shaped human nature. Readers will be better informed and sensitized regarding who humans are in their lengthy behavioral adaptations and development. . . . Highly recommended.and#8221;
Synopsis
The Art Instinct combines two of the most fascinating and contentious disciplines, art and evolutionary science, in a provocative new work that will revolutionize the way art itself is perceived. Aesthetic taste, argues Denis Dutton, is an evolutionary trait, and is shaped by natural selection. It's not, as almost all contemporary art criticism and academic theory would have it, "socially constructed." The human appreciation for art is innate, and certain artistic values are universal across cultures, such as a preference for landscapes that, like the ancient savannah, feature water and distant trees. If people from Africa to Alaska prefer images that would have appealed to our hominid ancestors, what does that mean for the entire discipline of art history? Dutton argues, with forceful logic and hard evidence, that art criticism needs to be premised on an understanding of evolution, not on abstract "theory." Sure to provoke discussion in scientific circles and an uproar in the art world, The Art Instinct offers radical new insights into both the nature of art and the workings of the human mind.
Synopsis
“If you care about art writ large as a miraculous bounty for the world, or only for your own selfish sake, The Art Instinct should impress you as the most shrewd, precisely written and provocative study youll find.”Philadelphia Inquirer Denis Duttons lively, controversial The Art Instinct combines two contentious disciplinesart and evolutionary sciencein a provocative new approach to how we think about art, from painting to literature to movies to pottery. Human tastes in the arts, Dutton argues, are evolutionary traits, not social constructs. Using forceful logic and hard evidence, Dutton overturns a century of art theory and criticism and restores the place of beauty, pleasure, and skill as artistic values.
Synopsis
The Art Instinct combines two of the most fascinating and contentious disciplines, art and evolutionary science, in a provocative new work that will revolutionize the way art itself is perceived. Aesthetic taste, argues Denis Dutton, is an evolutionary trait, and is shaped by natural selection. It's not, as almost all contemporary art criticism and academic theory would have it, socially constructed. The human appreciation for art is innate, and certain artistic values are universal across cultures, such as a preference for landscapes that, like the ancient savannah, feature water and distant trees. If people from Africa to Alaska prefer images that would have appealed to our hominid ancestors, what does that mean for the entire discipline of art history? Dutton argues, with forceful logic and hard evidence, that art criticism needs to be premised on an understanding of evolution, not on abstract theory. Sure to provoke discussion in scientific circles and an uproar in the art world, The Art Instinct offers radical new insights into both the nature of art and the workings of the human mind. Denis Dutton is the founder and editor of the hugely popular Web site Arts & Letters Daily, named by the Guardian as the best Web site in the world. He also founded and edits the journal Philosophy and Literature, and is a professor of the philosophy of art at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Denis Dutton's The Art Instinct combines two fascinating and contentious disciplines--art and evolutionary science--in a provocative new work that will change forever the way we think about the arts, from painting to literature to movies to pottery. Human tastes in the arts, Dutton argues, are evolutionary traits, shaped by Darwinian selection. They are not, as the past century of art criticism and academic theory would have it, just socially constructed.
Our love of beauty is inborn, and many aesthetic tastes are shared across remote cultures--just one example is the widespread preference for landscapes with water and distant trees, like the savannas where we evolved. Using forceful logic and hard evidence, Dutton shows that we must premise art criticism on an understanding of evolution, not on abstract theory. He restores the place of beauty, pleasure, and skill as artistic values.
Sure to provoke discussion in scientific circles and uproar in the art world, The Art Instinct offers radical new insights into both the nature of art and the workings of the human mind. Dutton's] discussion of the arts and of our responses to them is uniformly insightful and penetrating . . . he touches on all the major issues of aesthetics in this fairly short book and invariably illuminates them . . . Dutton's eloquent account sheds light on the role art plays in our lives, whatever its ultimate origins--Anthony Gottlieb, The New York Times Book Review Dutton's] discussion of the arts and of our responses to them is uniformly insightful and penetrating . . . he touches on all the major issues of aesthetics in this fairly short book and invariably illuminates them . . . Dutton's eloquent account sheds light on the role art plays in our lives, whatever its ultimate origins--Anthony Gottlieb, The New York Times Book Review
The Art Instinct is a brisk, bracingly confident performance . . . an unusually stimulating venture in aesthetics.--Julian Bell, The New York Review of Books
An important book that raises questions often avoided in contemporary aesthetics and art criticism . . . He has woven a powerful plea for the notion that art expresses a longing to see through the performance or object to another human personality.--Michael S. Roth, Los Angeles Times
As he observes in his provocative new book, The Art Instinct, people the world over are weirdly driven to create beautiful things . . . Dutton is an elegant writer, and his book should be admired for its attempt to close the gap between art and science.--Jonah Lerner, The Washington Post
A hard-hitting amalgamation of critical theory and evolutionary science . . . Cogent and exhilarating.--The Atlantic Monthly
A substantial contribution to the debate we ought to be having.--Martin Kemp, New Scientist
Mr. Dutton's book is anything but strident. He argues his thesis--that art-making evolved among humans as a means of demonstrating physical and cognitive fitness to potential mates, and that this fundamental reality provides the best answer we can give to the question What is art?--with almost old-fashioned politeness toward his adversaries. And that, perhaps, is the best way to read The Art Instinct: as a guided tour of the great landmarks of the philosophy of art--aesthetic theory explained, modified and refuted with patience and fluency by a writer whose mind was apparently formed well in advance of the meme-ocracy it helped to create.--Damian Da Costa, New York Observer
This book marks out the future of humanities--connecting aesthetics and criticism to an understanding of human nature from the cognitive and biological sciences . . . A bold and original contribution.--Steven Pinker, author of How the Mind Works and The Stuff of Thought
Denis Dutton's title is also his conclusion. In 250 elegant pages, he demonstrates that aesthetics are linked at the profoundest level to our biological and cognitive prehistory, and that our 'tastes'--those famously wavering and manipulable urges--emerged in the Pleistocene, and haven't changed in essentials since then.--Brian Morton, The Guardian (UK)
A wonderful, mind-changing book . . . a rich and persuasive argument for the centrality of art in our evolution . . . Dutton's arguments are coherent and convincing.--Peter Forbes, The Independent (UK)
Dutton's prose is direct, entertaining and stylish. He never pulls his punches. Unlike most works on aesthetics, this book is a great read.--Nigel Warburton,
Synopsis
In this remarkably ambitious and creative work, evolutionary biologist Gordon Orians explores the role of evolution in human responses to the environment. The work starts with chapters dedicated to human emotions and evolutionary approaches to aesthetics. It then looks at how environmental information is gained by humans, and processedand#151;what are the evolutionary mechanisms behind that response to a great white, or a baby deer? Then the fun truly begins. Mr. Orians in chapter 3 looks at landscapes, how we perceive the environs in which we live at larger scales. Chapter 4 explores our emotional responses to danger, and it is followed by a chapter on human-built natureand#151;gardens, parks. The closing chapters consider biodiversity and classification, and the role of emotions in our responses to the environment. By looking at human aesthetic preferences (for landscapes, sounds, smells, plants, animals, etc.) through a biological lens (which ranges from Darwin to current neuroscience), our experience of the natural world is wholly illuminated.
Synopsis
Our breath catches and we jump in fear at the sight of a snake. We pause and marvel at the sublime beauty of a sunrise. These reactions are no accident; in fact, many of our human responses to nature are steeped in our deep evolutionary pastand#151;we fear snakes because of the danger of venom or constriction, and we welcome the assurances of the sunrise as the predatory dangers of the dark night disappear. Many of our aesthetic preferencesand#151;from the kinds of gardens we build to the foods we enjoy and the entertainment we seekand#151;are the lingering result of natural selection.
In this ambitious and unusual work, evolutionary biologist Gordon H. Orians explores the role of evolution in human responses to the environment, beginning with why we have emotions and ending with evolutionary approaches to aesthetics. Orians reveals how our emotional lives today are shaped by decisions our ancestors made centuries ago on African savannas as they selected places to live, sought food and safety, and socialized in small hunter-gatherer groups.and#160; During this time our likes and dislikes became wired in our brains, as the appropriate responses to the environment meant the difference between survival or death. His rich analysis explains why we mimic the tropical savannas of our ancestors in our parks and gardens, why we are simultaneously attracted to danger and approach it cautiously, and how paying close attention to natureand#8217;s sounds has resulted in us being an unusually musical species.and#160; We also learn why we have developed discriminating palates for wine, and why we have strong reactions to some odors, and why we enjoy classifying almost everything.
By applying biological perspectives ranging from Darwin to current neuroscience to analyses of our aesthetic preferences for landscapes, sounds, smells, plants, and animals, Snakes, Sunrises, and Shakespeare transforms how we view our experience of the natural world and how we relate to each other.
About the Author
Denis Dutton founded Arts and Letters Daily and continues to edit the website, one of the Guardian's "best websites in the world," and one of the most heavily trafficked sites anywhere for news and opinion in science, the arts, and politics. He founded and still edits Philosophy and Literature, a highly successful scholarly journal published by Johns Hopkins University Press. He is a professor of the philosophy of art at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Whistling for HoneyChapter 2.Ghosts of the African SavannaChapter 3. The High Cost of LearningChapter 4. Reading the LandscapeChapter 5. The Snake in the Grass ( . . . and Other Hazards)Chapter 6. Settling Down and Settling InChapter 7. A Ransom in PepperChapter 8.The Musical ApeChapter 9. The First SniffChapter 10. Ordering NatureChapter 11. The Honeyguide and the Snake: Embracing Our Ecological MindsAcknowledgmentsNotesIllustration CreditsIndex