Evolution and Aesthetics

Evental Aesthetics 4 (2):1-170 (2015)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Is aesthetics a product of evolution? Are human aesthetic behaviors in fact evolutionary adaptations? The creation of artistic objects and experiences is an important aesthetic behavior. But so is the perception of aesthetic phenomena qua aesthetic. The question of evolutionary aesthetics is whether humans have evolved the capacity not only to make beautiful things but also to appreciate the aesthetic qualities in things. Are our near-universal love of music and cute baby animals essential to our species’ evolutionary development, which took place over thousands of years? In other words, do aesthetic practice and appreciation help people to survive or reproduce? Do aesthetic behaviors help to propel natural selection? If so, what does that tell us about ourselves as human beings? What does it tell us about art, our other aesthetic practices, and aesthetic experience?

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 101,880

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Editorial. Evolution and Aesthetics.Mandy-Suzanne Wong - 2015 - Evental Aesthetics 4 (2):4-21.
The Artful Species: Aesthetics, Art, and Evolution.Stephen Davies - 2012 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
Evolutionary Aesthetics.Luca Marchetti - 2024 - International Lexicon of Aesthetics.
The Evolutionary Value of an Aesthetic Sense.Stephen Davies - 2013 - Aisthesis: Pratiche, Linguaggi E Saperi Dell’Estetico 6 (2):75-79.
Expertise Affects Aesthetic Evolution in the Domain of Art.Jan Verpooten - 2018 - In Zoï Kapoula, Emmanuelle Volle, Julien Renoult & Moreno Andreatta (eds.), Exploring Transdisciplinarity in Art and Sciences. Springer Verlag. pp. 303-326.
Evolution and Aesthetics.Anthony O'Hear - 2005 - Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 56:12-13.
Esthetische normativiteit. Tegen empirische en evolutionaire verklaringen.Rob van Gerwen - 2011 - Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 103 (2):126-138.
Aesthetic Experience and Aesthetic Analysis.David E. W. Fenner - 2003 - Journal of Aesthetic Education 37 (1):40.

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-01-24

Downloads
239 (#110,563)

6 months
11 (#370,490)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Moral Status As a Matter of Degree?David DeGrazia - 2008 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 46 (2):181-198.
Naming Biology.Peter McLaughlin - 2002 - Journal of the History of Biology 35 (1):1 - 4.
Conservation and Preservation.Bryan G. Norton - 1986 - Environmental Ethics 8 (3):195-220.
First Art and Art’s Definition.Stephen Davies - 1997 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 35 (1):19-34.

View all 20 references / Add more references