000			01557nam a2200169Ia 4500
001			4811
008			250217s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a9781608190553
100			_aDutton, Denis _96787
245		4	_aThe Art instinct/ _cDenis Dutton
260			_bBloomsbury Press; _c2010
300			_a288p; _c21x14cm
520			_aThe 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.
546			_aEnglish
650			_aBH1-301 Philosophy. Psychology. Religion- Aesthetics _96788
942			_cBK
999			_c4811 _d4811