[New-Poetry] Art Instinct

[jforjames at aol.com]

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bn-review/note.asp?note=20751503


The Art Instinct is an exploration of human taste. The book's provocative thesis is that our propensity for creating music, literature, drama, and the visual arts is the product of Darwinian evolution, and that our taste in art arises not from cultural indicators but from universal, innate preferences. This argument doesn't come from out of nowhere -- Dutton openly builds upon and complements the work of linguist Steven Pinker, for one -- but the book advances it aggressively and persuasively, even if many questions remain. The Art Instinct also undercuts some fundamental premises in disciplines like cultural studies and anthropology. Expect some nasty reviews. 

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