{"product_id":"the-art-instinct-beauty-pleasure-and-human-evolution-9781596914018","title":"The Art Instinct: Beauty  Pleasure  and Human Evolution","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn a groundbreaking new book that does for art what Stephen Pinkers The Language Instinct did for linguistics  Denis Dutton overturns a century of art theory and criticism and revolutionizes our understanding of the arts.  The Art Instinct combines two fascinating and contentious disciplinesart and evolutionary sciencein a provocative new work that will change forever the way we think about the arts  from painting to literature to movies to pottery. Human tastes in the arts  Dutton argues  are evolutionary traits  shaped by Darwinian selection. They are not  as the past century of art criticism and academic theory would have it  just \"socially constructed.\" Our love of beauty is inborn  and many aesthetic tastes are shared across remote culturesjust one example is the widespread preference for landscapes with water and distant trees  like the savannas where we evolved. Using forceful logic and hard evidence  Dutton shows that we must premise art criticism on an understanding of evolution  not on abstract \"theory.\" He restores the place of beauty  pleasure  and skill as artistic values.  Sure to provoke discussion in scientific circles and uproar in the art world  The Art Instinct offers radical new insights into both the nature of art and the workings of the human mind.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648252272693,"sku":"ByrdShop_1596914017","price":23.64,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781596914018.jpg?v=1781713838","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-art-instinct-beauty-pleasure-and-human-evolution-9781596914018","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}