Cover of The Art Instinct

The Art Instinct

Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution
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The Art Instinct

By: Denis Dutton
Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
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Summary
 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.©2008 Denis Dutton (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
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Reviews

In The Art Instinct, Dutton contends that an interest in art belongs on this list of evolutionary adaptations... read Dutton's book: his masterful knowledge of art and his compelling prose make it a thing of beauty.
An important book that raises questions often avoided in contemporary aesthetics and art criticism...He has woven a powerful plea for the notion that art expresses a longing to see through the performance or object to another human personality.
As he observes in his provocative new book, The Art Instinct, people the world over are weirdly driven to create beautiful things...Dutton is an elegant writer, and his book should be admired for its attempt to close the gap between art and science.
Medal for service to science awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand, 1998
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