“Aesthetic Primitives”: Fundamental Biological Elements of a Naturalistic Aesthetics

• Main Author: Ellen Dissanayake
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Firenze University Press 2015-05-01
• Series: Aisthesis
• Subjects: Aesthetic Mind; Neuroaesthetics; evolutionary aesthetics; cognitive aesthetics; evolution of art
• Online Access: http://www.fupress.net/index.php/aisthesis/article/view/16203

<p>Aesthetics, like other philosophical subjects, has historically made use of «top down» (mentalistic, analytic, and linguistic) methods. Recent discoveries in genetics, evolutionary psychology, paleoarchaeology, and neuroscience call for a new «naturalistic» or «bottom up» perspective. Combining these fields with behavioral biology and ethnoarts studies, I offer seven premises that underlie a new understanding of evolved predispositions of the brain/mind that all artists use to attract attention, sustain interest, and create, mold, and shape emotion. I describe aesthetic «primitives» in somatic and behavioral (as well as psychosensory) modalities, suggesting that these were present in early <em>sapiens</em> and continue to influence human art making and aesthetic response today. Keywords: Aesthetic Mind; Neuroaesthetics, evolutionary aesthetics, cognitive aesthetics, evolution of art.</p>