The Aesthetic Animal

by Henrik Høgh-Olesen

The Aesthetic Animal answers the ultimate questions of why we adorn ourselves, embellish our things and surroundings, and produce art, music, song dance, and fiction. Humans are aesthetic animals that spend vast amounts of time and resources on seemingly useless aesthetic activities. However, nature would not allow a species to waste precious time and effort on activities completely unrelated to survival, reproduction, and the well-being of that species. Consequently, the aesthetic impulse must have some important biological functions. A number of observations indicate that the aesthetic impulse is an inherent part of human nature, and therefore a primary impulse in its own right with several important The aesthetic impulse may guide us toward what is biologically good for us, and help us choose the right fitness enhancing items in our surroundings. It is a valid individual fitness indicator as well as a unifying social group marker, and aesthetically skilled
individuals get more mating possibilities, higher status and more collaborative offers.

The book is written in a lively and entertaining tone, with beautiful color illustrations. It covers a wide field of aesthetic behaviors from cave art, graffiti, tattoos, and piercings over fashion, design, music, song, and dance. It presents an original and comprehensive synthesis of the empirical field, synthesizing data from archeology, cave art, anthropology, biology, ethology, behavioral- and evolutionary psychology and neuro-aesthetics. It is a must-read for people interested in biology, psychology, anthropology, architecture, design, fashion, body culture, art, and the evolution of aesthetics.

Genres: Evolution, Psychology, Nonfiction, Biology, Philosophy

192 pages, Hardcover

Published September 14, 2018

Reviews

[Darnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too short. There's a place for simple introductory books, but I don't think that evolutionary psychology, with its controversies and tendency toward just so stories, is the right field for this. There's some decent information here, it just tends toward simple answers and the author's intuitions.

[Wilte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aesthetics from an evolutionary psychology perspective. Some basic sexual selection and couple of examples. Alright-ish summary.

Summary thread: https://twitter.com/wilte/status/1293...

[Cecilie Amstrup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Har man hørt nogle af Henrik Høgh-Olesens forelæsninger, foredrag eller lignende, er man slet ikke i tvivl om, at det er ham, der har skrevet denne bog. Tonen og den måde dette fagområde bliver fremlagt er meget hans stil. Det betyder også, at bogen er skrevet ud fra et adfærds- og evolutionspsykologisk perspektiv, hvilket helt klart farver den vinkel, der er på æstetik og kunst.

Overordnet synes jeg, at det er et interessant emne og en bog, der er værd at læse, hvis man er interesseret i psykologi, æstetik og kultur. Når det er sagt, så kunne den godt lige have brug for en feministisk overhaling… Eller af en, der er queer… Eller måske bare generelt en bedre diversitets-repræsentation.

[Woocool · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting but needs extension on most of the topics covered.

[Yanick Punter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it.
It is more of a summary than offering much new, but I did not mind. I am interested in how these ideas will develop in the future. Though I don't see much change.