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The Biological Origins of Art
(Click to Enlarge)
Nancy E. Aiken
Book Code: C5901
ISBN: 0-275-95901-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-95901-2
200 pages, figures
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 4/30/1998
List Price: $106.95 (UK Sterling Price: £59.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • Working squarely within the present framework of sociobiology, Aiken makes the argument that, in addition to various cultural factors and other subjective associations (such as symbolism) that trigger emotional responses to art, there is a fundamental biological reflex that is universal in human beings....General readers, undergraduates through faculty.
    —Choice
  • Endorsement From Ellen Dissanayake
    Author, What Is Art For? and Homo Aesthetics:     A serious and carefully-argued contribution, at the most fundamental level, to a longstanding problem in aesthetics--how art evokes emotion. While artists and philosophers will no doubt agree with the author that there is more to say, aesthetics begins here. Those with an interest in how art works would do well to begin here also.
Description: Beginning with Plato, philosophers have theorized about art, asking "What is art?" and "How does art evoke emotion?" Their answers, evolving from Plato's Idealism, have led to Nihilism. "Art cannot be defined" is the current answer to the first question, and the second has not been dealt with in any significant way since Langer's Feeling and Form in 1953. How art affects our emotions is considered not from a philosophical viewpoint but from an evolutionary standpoint. "How are emotions aroused?" is a biological question, and, as Aiken clarifies, it has been answered by neuroscientists. Art is usually thought of as pleasurable, but it can be ugly, disgusting, or fearsome. Aiken argues that fear, for example, can be elicited by simple shapes, lines, colors, or sound. Rather than just a source of pleasure, Aiken shows how art becomes a powerful tool of social and political manipulation. Through art, people can be conditioned to fear leaders, nations, gods, and ideas. A provocative work of interest to scholars and researchers as well as all people interested in art and human behavior.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Big Questions
  • Emotional Response to Art
  • Biological Constraints on Human Behavior
  • A Particular Kind of Biological Constraint: The Releaser-Response Package
  • The Defense Reaction: A Releaser-Response Package Which Can Evoke Emotion in Art
  • The Defense Reaction, Emotion, and Art
  • Threat Stimuli Used in Art
  • From Threat to Pleasure
  • Answers to Big Questions
  • Index
LC Card Number: 97-42064
LCC Class: N71
Dewey Class: 701
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