The Biology of Art

Challenges traditional evolutionary, psychological and neurobiological theories by using the ecology of art to explore art behaviors.

Richard A. Richards (Author)

9781108727846, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 May 2019

75 pages
15.2 x 22.9 x 0.5 cm, 0.2 kg

'I found it highly readable and engaging. No knowledge of philosophy of art is presumed. It provides a balanced introduction, and a clear articulation of the author's view. I would not hesitate to recommend The Biology of Art to a newcomer to philosophical aesthetics or to set it as a reading in an undergraduate philosophy of art course. Indeed, I think it would serve class discussions well … The book is a curious contribution to a Philosophy of Biology series. Many central controversies in philosophy of biology can be brought to bear on the arts. This element sidesteps those to offer instead a defence of naturalism in philosophy of art-a position I would wager most professional philosophers of biology would already endorse.' Anton Killin, Metascience

Biological accounts of art typically start with evolutionary, psychological or neurobiological theories. These approaches might be able to explain many of the similarities we see in art behaviors within and across human populations, but they don't obviously explain the differences we also see. Nor do they give us guidance on how we should engage with art, or the conceptual basis for art. A more comprehensive framework, based also on the ecology of art and how art behaviors get expressed in engineered niches, can help us better understand the full range of art behaviors, their normativity and conceptual basis.

1. What is art?
2. Naturalism and its discontents
3. The evolutionary framework
4. The psychology and neurobiology of art
5. The ecology of art
6. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Philosophy: aesthetics [HPN], Philosophy [HP]