Art Instinct Research Articles

Kłopoty z ewolucją sztuki. Analiza koncepcji instynktu sztuki Denisa Duttona

The article presents an analysis of the concept of the art instinct. This is a notion introduced by Denis Dutton in his concept of the evolution of art. The autor analyses the internal coherency of Dutton’s concept and its implications, with investigations in the context of evolutionary biology and biological anthropogenesis. The article’s conclusions are that: (1) the idea of art instinct is incoherent and difficult to uphold in the light of contemporary knowledge of the mechanisms of evolution and the course of anthropogenesis; (2) it is, however, a notion that is convenient and explanatorily efficient, as long as one accepts—among other things—the reservation about the non-teleological course of evolution; (3) the art instinct and the phenomenon of art cannot be explained without referring to social processes.

Sztuka i adaptacja. Adoracja, aberracja, abominacja

The text, commenting on The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution by Denis Dutton, and the premises contained in it that aesthetic preferences derive from individual and social adaptation mechanisms, will attempt to consider the aspect of the usefulness of art less emphasised by Denis Dutton as a tool for developing and deepening individual perceptual competences. The effective functioning of the nervous system, including efficient handling of individual senses (i.e. the degree of sensitivity to stimuli) and the ability to critically analyse them, provides organisms not only with spatial orientation, but also allows them to plan and predict potential cause-effect sequences.

Of All Studies, Study Your Present Condition: Essay Review of Denis Dutton's The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)

AbstractIn this review I will assess the validity of Denis Dutton's provocative argument for Darwinian aesthetics. In The Art Instinct Dutton draws on the insights of Darwin and the evolutionary psychologists Geoffrey Miller and Steven Pinker to analyse art as the product of evolution. Pinker asserts on the dust cover that ‘this book marks out the future of the humanities – connecting aesthetics and criticism to an understanding of human nature from the cognitive and biological sciences' and that ‘Dutton has made a bold and original contribution to this exciting new field’. Miller's opinion of The Art Instinct is noticeable by its absence. In his review of The Art Instinct, arts academic Richard Hickman concludes: ‘for educators, if we accept that young people have an “art instinct”, then it is incumbent upon us to ensure that this instinct is nurtured and developed’. I agree. My aim is to critically assess Dutton's contribution and speculate about how it might inform future directions in educational research.

Denis Dutton’s The Art Instinct and the Recovery of Ainu Aesthetics

Denis Dutton’s The Art Instinct provides a useful framework for analyzing the aesthetics of the Ainu, a small-scale society in northern Japan. In a recent study at Hokkaido University, Ainu artists replicated old, museum-quality Ainu works and reported on their selection, study of the works, replication processes, and discussions with other artists. The replication illustrates the importance of intention in determining the authenticity of works of art, while the artists’ comments demonstrate the applicability of all twelve of Dutton’s “twelve characteristics of art,” and reinforce his conclusion that native viewers of art bring important insights to the perception of artworks.

What Would Dutton Say about the Paradox of Fiction?

How is it that humans can react emotionally to fiction when they know it is not real? Following the lead of Denis Dutton in The Art Instinct , we propose a solution to this so-called paradox of fiction. The paradox assumes that our conscious awareness that something is not real should prevent an emotional reaction. But such reactions are often the result of aptly named “mirror neurons” that mimic the brain activity of those around us and cause us to mimic the emotions of others. So because mirror neurons do not distinguish between fiction and reality, we react emotionally to both fiction and reality.

Denis Dutton: Appreciation of the Man and Discussion of the Work

Despite being a trove of lively observations and stimulating ideas, The Art Instinct does not succeed in its stated purpose of showing that art has been evolutionarily adaptive. The book is more about aesthetic experience or response (pleasure and beauty) than art making or participation , and the author’s twelve “cluster criteria” are too general for understanding why a particular behavior (or behavioral predisposition) of art might have originated and evolved. Advocacy of the sexual-selection argument is inadequate: participation in the arts is good for everyone, not just a few (male) virtuosos.

Dutton, Davies, and Imaginative Virtual Worlds: The Current State of Evolutionary Aesthetics

This paper is a commentary comparing the evolutionary perspectives of Denis Dutton’s The Art Instinct (2009) and Stephen Davies’s The Artful Species (2012). Their topics thus necessarily overlap, but their books have different purposes and a different feel. Davies’s book is an academic exercise. He has no real arguments or claims of his own. Dutton wishes to demonstrate that evolutionary psychology can provide a satisfying naturalistic explanation of aesthetic experience. Neither Davies nor Dutton fully succeeds in his ambition. Davies extends his scepticism well beyond a sensible account of the state of current knowledge about human evolution, and Dutton fails to recognize underlying theoretical differences in his main sources of theoretical inspiration. The limitations in these two works do not define the boundaries of current knowledge in evolutionary aesthetics. The most advanced and adequate concept in the evolutionary humanities is the idea that humans evolved the capacity to create imaginative virtual worlds and use those worlds to guide human behaviour. Both books being considered in this essay approach the idea of imaginative virtual worlds and almost grasp it. Before taking up that topic, the paper shall discuss two subsidiary issues: Dutton’s effort to incorporate sexual selection, and Davies’s sceptical negations about all evolutionary knowledge.

Apollinian Scientia Sexualis and Dionysian Ars Erotica?: On the Relation Between Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality and Friedrich Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy

Abstract This article explores how a nonreductionist account of Nietzsche's influence on Michel Foucault can enrich our understanding of key concepts in singular works of both philosophers. I assess this exegetical strategy by looking at the two dichotomies Apollinian/Dionysian and ars erotica/scientia sexualis in The Birth of Tragedy and volume 1 of The History of Sexuality, respectively. After exploring the relation between these two dichotomies, I link the science of sexuality to the Apollinian art instinct via the existence of Socratic culture and argue against the “pleasure of analysis” as a sublated form of (Dionysian) ars erotica. These considerations lead to the notions of history in Nietzsche's and Foucault's philosophies that result in situating the polyvalent Ursprung of Greek tragedy and the descent of ars erotica and scientia sexualis in an antimetaphysical and nonteleological picture of historical development.

Human Nature and Pop Culture

Human Nature and Pop Culture

(R)evolutionary aesthetics: Denis Dutton’s The art instinct: beauty, pleasure and human evolution

Denis Dutton’s “The Art Instinct” succeeds admirably in showing that it is possible to think about art from a biological point of view, and this is a significant achievement, given that resistance to the idea that cultural phenomena have biological underpinnings remains widespread in many academic disciplines. However, his account of the origins of our artistic impulses and the far-reaching conclusions he draws from that account are not persuasive. This article points out a number of problems: in particular, problems with Dutton’s appeal to sexual selection, with his discussion of the adaptation/by-product distinction and its significance, and with drawing normative conclusions from evolutionary hypotheses.

The Art Instinct. By Denis Dutton

The Art Instinct. By Denis Dutton

The Art Instinct

The Art Instinct