Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes From and Why

by Ellen Dissanayake

Overview

“Dissanayake argues that art was central to human evolutionary adaptation and that the aesthetic faculty is a basic psychological component of every human being. In her view, art is intimately linked to the origins of religious practices and to ceremonies of birth, death, transition, and transcendence. Drawing on her years in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and Papua New Guinea, she gives examples of painting, song, dance, and drama as behaviors that enable participants to grasp and reinforce what is important to their cognitive world.”—Publishers Weekly“Homo Aestheticus offers a wealth of original and critical thinking. It will inform and irritate specialist, student, and lay reader alike.”—American AnthropologistA thoughtful, elegant, and provocative analysis of aesthetic behavior in the development of our species—one that acknowledges its roots in the work of prior thinkers while opening new vistas for those yet to come. If you’re reading just one book on art anthropology this year, make it hers.”—Anthropology and Humanism

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295980539
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	01/01/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ellen Dissanayake is an independent scholar, author, and lecturer. She is the author of What Is Art For? (University of Washington Press, 1988), Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes from and Why (Free Press and University of Washington Press (1992), and Art and Intimacy (University of Washington Press, 2000).

Table of Contents

Preface to the 1995 Edition

Preface to the Original Edition

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: Why Species-Centrism?

2. Biology and Art: The Implications of Feeling Good

3. The Core of Art: Making Special

4. Dromena, or "Things Done": Reconciling Culture and Nature

5. The Arts as Means of Enhancement

6. "Empathy Theory" Reconsidered: The Psychobiology of Aesthetic Responses

7. Does Writing Erase Art?

Notes

References

Index of Names

Index of Subjects

Credits

What People are Saying About This

Howard Gardner

A wide—ranging essay on the place of art in human evolution and in the future, at once learned and spirited.

Editorial Reviews

"Affirm[s] the idea that art is for life’s sake, for the fulfillment of fundamental human needs, and for human survival. . . . She gives us a coherent rationale for funding broadly based arts programs."

Art Therapy

"Homo Aestheticus calls for a counterrevolution in our thinking about art. It is timely, provocative, and immensely valuable."

Philosophy and Literature

"Ellen Dissanayake’s book is the most forceful rejoinder I’ve read so far to the trivializing pessimism of postmodernist art theory."

San Francisco Chronicle - Kenneth Baker

Homo Aestheticus offers a wealth of original and critical thinking. It will inform and irritate specialist, student, and lay reader alike.

American Anthropologist

Homo Aestheticus calls for a counterrevolution in our thinking about art. It is timely, provocative, and immensely valuable.

-- "Philosophy and Literature"

Homo Aestheticus offers a wealth of original and critical thinking. It will inform and irritate specialist, student, and lay reader alike.

-- "American Anthropologist"

Affirm[s] the idea that art is for life's sake, for the fulfillment of fundamental human needs, and for human survival. . . . She gives us a coherent rationale for funding broadly based arts programs.

-- "Art Therapy"

Dissanayake argues that art was central to human evolutionary adaptation and that the aesthetic faculty is a basic psychological component of every human being. In her view, art is intimately linked to the origins of religious practices and to ceremonies of birth, death, transition, and transcendence. Drawing on her years in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and Papua New Guinea, she gives examples of painting, song, dance, and drama as behaviors that enable participants to grasp and reinforce what is important to their cognitive world.

-- "Publishers Weekly"

Ellen Dissanayake's book is the most forceful rejoinder I've read so far to the trivializing pessimism of postmodernist art theory.

--Kenneth Baker "San Francisco Chronicle"

From the Publisher