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Updated: May 8, 2026
04:43
Visualizing Visual Adaptation
Published on: April 24, 2017
Coevolutionary aesthetics in human and biotic artworlds.
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA.
Biology & Philosophy
|August 24, 2013
Summary
This study introduces a coevolutionary theory of aesthetics, proposing that art involves communication evolving with its evaluation. It suggests human and non-human biotic arts share aesthetic principles, challenging anthropocentric views.
Area of Science:
- Aesthetics
- Evolutionary Biology
- Art Theory
Background:
- Current aesthetic theories often adopt anthropocentric viewpoints, overlooking the complexity of nature's aesthetics and non-human organisms' aesthetic agency.
- The concept of 'art' is typically confined to human creations, neglecting potential aesthetic expressions in the natural world.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a coevolutionary theory of aesthetics encompassing both human and biotic arts.
- To challenge anthropocentric perspectives in aesthetics and expand the understanding of art and art history.
- To explore the coevolutionary origins of aesthetic properties and value.
Main Methods:
- Developing a coevolutionary theory of aesthetics.
- Expanding Arthur Danto's 'Artworld' concept to encompass aesthetic populations of producers and evaluators.
- Analyzing the shared process of evaluative coevolution in biotic advertisements.
Main Results:
- Art is proposed as a form of communication that coevolves with its evaluation.
- Art and art history are viewed as population phenomena, applicable to both human and non-human biotic contexts.
- A coevolutionary aesthetic theory offers a framework for understanding aesthetic change and origins in diverse artworlds.
Conclusions:
- Aesthetic theory must engage with biodiversity, potentially recognizing biotic advertisements as art or reconsidering human art definitions.
- Restructuring aesthetics, art criticism, and art history beyond human-centered frameworks can advance our understanding of art and aesthetic diversity.
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