The Aesthetic Animal

Description

The Aesthetic Animal answers the ultimate questions of why we adorn ourselves, embellish our things and surroundings, and produce art, music, song dance, and fiction. Humans are aesthetic animals that spend vast amounts of time and resources on seemingly useless aesthetic activities. However, nature would not allow a species to waste precious time and effort on activities completely unrelated to survival, reproduction, and the well-being of that species. Consequently, the aesthetic impulse must have some important biological functions. A number of observations indicate that the aesthetic impulse is an inherent part of human nature, and therefore a primary impulse in its own right with several important functions: The aesthetic impulse may guide us toward what is biologically good for us, and help us choose the right fitness enhancing items in our surroundings. It is a valid individual fitness indicator as well as a unifying social group marker, and aesthetically skilled individuals get more mating possibilities, higher status and more collaborative offers. The book is written in a lively and entertaining tone, with beautiful color illustrations. It covers a wide field of aesthetic behaviors from cave art, graffiti, tattoos, and piercings over fashion, design, music, song, and dance. It presents an original and comprehensive synthesis of the empirical field, synthesizing data from archeology, cave art, anthropology, biology, ethology, behavioral- and evolutionary psychology and neuro-aesthetics. It is a must-read for people interested in biology, psychology, anthropology, architecture, design, fashion, body culture, art, and the evolution of aesthetics. Cover......Page 1 The Aesthetic Animal......Page 10 Copyright......Page 11 Contents......Page 12 Preface......Page 14 Introduction: The Aesthetic Impulse......Page 18 1. An Animal in Search of Stimulation for Pleasure and Need: Two Stories on the Forces that Drive Us Toward Art and Aesthetics......Page 32 2. The First Humans and the First Art......Page 40 3. What a Sexy Tale! Key Stimuli and Attraction: Aesthetics in the Animal Kingdom......Page 60 4. The Woman in Red and the Man with the Chrome-​Plated Wheels: Aesthetics and Key Stimuli in the Human World......Page 70 5. The Human Peacock: Body Ornamentation and Artistic Behavior from Tribal Society to Modern Primitives......Page 94 6. Who Lives Here? Decoration, Design, and Ornamentation on Objects and Surroundings......Page 112 7. Art and the Brain’s Reward System: Brain Processes and Neuroaesthetics......Page 124 8. Fiction and Narrative: The Function of Symbolic Aesthetics......Page 134 9. Summing Up the Aesthetic Impulse: Adaptation, Cheesecake, or . . . ?......Page 146 10. Opening the Doors of Aesthetics: Concluding Remarks......Page 156 Notes......Page 164 References......Page 168 Index......Page 176