Evolutionary Aesthetics

Evolutionary Aesthetics is the attempt to understand the aesthetic judgement of human beings and their spontaneous distinction between "beauty" and "ugliness" as a biologically adapted ability to make important decisions in life. The hypothesis is - both in the area of "natural beauty" and in sexuality, with regard to landscape preferences, but also in the area of "artificial beauty" (i.e. in art and design) - that beauty opens up fitness opportunities, while ugliness holds fitness risks. In this book, this adaptive view of aesthetics is developed theoretically, presented on the basis of numerous examples, and its consequences for evolutionary anthropology are illuminated. TOC:The Problem. Darwinian Aesthetics Informs Traditional Aesthetics.- From Is to Beauty: From Perception to Cognition. The Beauty, the Beauties and the Beautiful: Some Considerations From the Perspective of Neuronal Aesthetics. The Role of Sensory Biases in Aesthetics.- The Fitness of Beauty: Aesthetics and Adaptation. Beauty and Sex-Appeal: Sexual Selection of Aesthetic Preferences. Aesthetic Fitness. Aesthetic Preferences in the World of Artefacts: Adaptations For the Evaluation of "Honest Signals". Beyond Classicism vs. Constructivism: A Multiple Analysis of Variations in Grooming.- Modular Aesthetics. Landscape Perception as Evolutionary Foundation of Aesthetics. Handaxes, the First Aesthetic Artefacts. What Appeals is Beautiful? The Aesthetics of Pictorial Art. Bodies in Motion: Attractiveness as a Kinetic Signal. Perfumes. Do Women Have Evolved Adaptation for Extra-Pair Copulation?