The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution by Denis Dutton

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In a groundbreaking new book that does for art what Stephen Pinker's The Language Instinct did for linguistics, Denis Dutton overturns a century of art theory and criticism and revolutionizes our understanding of the arts.

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.
Publication Details

Title: The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution

Author(s):

  • Denis Dutton

Illustrator:

Binding: Hardcover

Published by: Bloomsbury Press: , 2008

Edition:

ISBN: 9781596914018 | 1596914017

288 pages. 16.26cm x 2.84cm x 24.28cm

  • ENG- English
Book Condition: Very Good
5294t

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What does the Book Condition Very Good mean? Good? Fair?
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Foxing - Wikipedia
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Age tanning, or browning, occurs over time on the pages of books. This process can show up on just the edges of pages, when this occurs it is sometimes referred to as "edge tanning." This kind of deterioration is commonly seen in books printed before the advent of acid-free paper in the 1980s.
r/BookCollecting - Is this mold or normal aging for a well used book?
 
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