The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution
by Dutton, Denis
- Used
- Very Good
- Paperback
- first
- Condition
- Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 1608190552
- ISBN 13
- 9781608190553
- Seller
-
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2010. 282 pages; 21 cm. Near fine. Tight, clean copy. Age toning. First thus. "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." - Publisher. CONTENTS: Introduction; Landscape and longing; Art and human nature; What is art?; "But they don't have our concept of art"; Art and natural selection; The uses of fiction; Art and human self-domestication; Intention, forgery, Dada : three aesthetic problems; The contingency of aesthetic values; Greatness in the arts. . 1st. Paperback. Very Good. 8vo.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- LEFT COAST BOOKS (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 124836
- Title
- The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution
- Author
- Dutton, Denis
- Format/Binding
- Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Edition
- 1st
- ISBN 10
- 1608190552
- ISBN 13
- 9781608190553
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Press
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2010
- Size
- 8vo
- Bookseller catalogs
- Aesthetics; European / 1. Prehistoric;
Terms of Sale
LEFT COAST BOOKS
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
LEFT COAST BOOKS
Biblio member since 2016
Santa Barbara, California
About LEFT COAST BOOKS
Established in Santa Barbara, California, in 2004, Left Coast Books specializes in ART BOOKS, offering thousands of titles on painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture, design, photography, film, video, and performance art. We also sell classics, literature, history, and a broad variety of useful academic books.