Access to the full content is only available to members of institutions that have purchased access. If you belong to such an institution, please log in or find out more about how to order.


Print

Evolutionary aesthetics

DOI
10.4324/9780415249126-M071-1
Published
2021
DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-M071-1
Version: v1,  Published online: 2021
Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/evolutionary-aesthetics/v-1

Article Summary

Evolutionary aesthetics is the multidisciplinary investigation of the origins and evolution of our artistic and aesthetic behaviours and the capacities underwriting those behaviours. Key research questions include when, in the evolutionary past of our species, aesthetic sensitivities and artistic behaviours originated, and how, as well as whether those behaviours are evolutionary adaptations, by-products of evolutionary processes, or nonbiological cultural products. More recently, researchers have explored the explanatory potential of niche construction and gene-culture coevolutionary theory with respect to aesthetics and the arts.

Print
Citing this article:
Killin, Anton. Evolutionary aesthetics, 2021, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-M071-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/evolutionary-aesthetics/v-1.
Copyright © 1998-2024 Routledge.

Related Articles