Every human society displays some form of behavior that can be called
"art," and in most societies other than our own the arts play an
integral part in social life. Those who wish to understand art in its
broadest sense, as a universal human endowment, need to go beyond modern
Western elitist notions that disregard other cultures and ignore the
human species' four-million-year evolutionary history.
This book offers a new and unprecedentedly comprehensive theory of the
evolutionary significance of art. Art, meaning not only visual art, but
music, poetic language, dance, and performance, is for the first time
regarded from a biobehavioral or ethical viewpoint. It is shown to be a
biological necessity in human existence and fundamental characteristic
of the human species.
In this provocative study, Ellen Dissanayake examines art along with
play and ritual as human behaviors that "make special," and proposes
that making special is an inherited tendency as intrinsic to the human
species as speech and toolmaking. She claims that the arts evolved as
means of making socially important activities memorable and pleasurable,
and thus have been essential to human survival.
Avoiding simplism and reductionism, this original synthetic approach
permits a fresh look at old questions about the origins, nature,
purpose, and value of art. It crosses disciplinary boundaries and
integrates a number of divers fields: human ethology; evolutionary
biology; the psychology and philosophy of art; physical and cultural
anthropology; "primitive" and prehistoric art; Western cultural history;
and children's art. The final chapter, "From Tradition to Aestheticism,"
explores some of the ways in which modern Western society has diverged
from other societies--particularly the type of society in which human
beings evolved--and considers the effects of the aberrance on our art
and our attitudes toward art.
This book is addressed to readers who have a concerned interest in the
arts or in human nature and the state of modern society.
