Beauty and the Brain: Biological Aspects of Aesthetics

321 Pages·1988·8.36 MB·English

by  Ingo Rentschler

Beauty and the
Brain
Biological Aspects ofA esthetics
Edited by
Ingo Rentschler
Barbara Herzherger
David Epstein
Springer Basel AG
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Beauty and the Brain.
Bibliography: p.
lncludes index.
1. Aesthetics--Physiological aspects.l. Rentschler, I. (lngo), 1940- Il. Herzberger,
B. (Barbara) Ill. Epstein, David.
BH30l.P45B43 1988 11 '.85 88-26249
CIP-Kurztitelaufnahrne der Deutschen Bibliothek
Beauty and the Brain : biolog. aspects of aesthetics I I. Rentschler ... (ed.). -Basel;
Boston ; Berlin : Birkhäuser, 1988
NE: Rentschler, lngo [Hrsg.]
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the
material is concemed, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations,
broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data
banks. Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law where copies are made for other than
private use a fee is payable to "Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort", Munich.
© Springer Basel AG 1988
Originally published by Birkhliuser Verlag, Basel in 1988
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988
Book and jacket design: Justin Messmer, Basel
on acid-free paper
ISBN 978-3-7643-1924-3 ISBN 978-3-0348-6350-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-0348-6350-6
Table of Contents:
7 Acknowledgments
9 Introduction
Ingo Rentschler, Barbara Herzberger, and David Epstein
Part 1:
Aesthetics - Personal or Universal?
Chap.l.
15 Gregor Paul: Philosophical Theories of Beauty and Scientific
Research on the Drain
Chap.2.
29 Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt: The Biological Foundation of Aesthetics
Part II:
Three Enduring Pieasores
Chap. 3.
71 Frederick Turnerand Ernst Pöppel: Metered Poetry, the Drain,
and Time
Chap.4.
91 David Epstein: Tempo Relations in Music: A Universal?
. Chap. 5.
117 Walter Siegfried: Dance, the Fugitive Form of Art -
Aesthetics as Behavior
Part 111:
The Eye of the Beholder
Chap. 6.
149 Heinrich Zollinger: Biological Aspects of Color Naming
Chap. 7.
165 Günter Baumgartner: Physiological Constraints ofthe Visual
Aesthetic Response
Chßp. 8.
181 lngo Rentschler, Terry Caelli, and Lamberto Maffei: Focusing in
onArt
Part IV:
Two Brains - One Mind?
Chßp. 9.
219 Jerre Levy: Cerebral Asymmetry and Aesthetic Experience
Chßp.JO.
243 Marianne Regard and Theodor Landis: Beauty May Difl'er in Each
Half of the Eye of the Beholder
Chßp.ll.
257 Otto-Joachim Grüsser, Thomas Selke, and Barbara Zynda:
Cerebral Lateralization and Some lmplications for Art, Aesthetic
Perception, and Artistic Creativity
Part V:
The Essence and the Appearance
Chßp.12.
297 Andrew Strathem: The Aesthetic Significance of Display
Chßp.13.
315 Elizabeth Rozin: Aesthetics and Cuisine - Mind over Matter
327 Index
Acknowledgments
The chapters of this volume evolved from seven meetings of the "Studien
gruppe Biologische Grundlagen der Aesthetik" held at the Werner-Reimers
Stiftung, Bad Hornburg vor der Höhe, West Germany. Authors and editors are
grateful to this foundation and especially to Herr Konrad von Krosigk and Frau
Gertrud Söntgen for supporting their work. They are equally indebted to all
participants of these meetings whose contributions made it possible to write
this book.
The original suggestion to pursue the problems at issue came from Profes
sor Ernst Pöppel, who later generously supported the editorial process. Very
important for the project was the continuous interest and encouragement
received from Professor Jürgen Aschoff.
The editorsfurther wish to acknowledge the help afforded to them by
Ms. Haide Ansari, Dipl.-Biol. Ute Engler, Ms. Monika Herzog, Ms. Joyce
Nevis-Olesen, Mr. Takao Maruyama, Dr. Marianne Regard, Dr. Petra Stoerig,
Dr. Christa Sütterlin, Dipl.-Phys. Bernhard Treutwein, Dr. Hans Brettel,
Mr. Matthias Pflieger, Dr. Wulf Schiefenhövel, and Mr. Mahmoud Zuberi.
Introduction
logo Rentschler and Barbara Herzherger
Institute of Medical Psychology, University of Munich, Munich, Federal
Republic of Germany
David Epstein
Department ofM usic, Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, Boston,
Mass., USA
"Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them." This Statement
made by the English philosopher, David Hume, in his work On Tragedy may
seem strange to some and obvious to others. How is it possible for beauty not
to be intrinsic to the object itself but dependent upon the observer? Or, who
can expect the beauty of an object not to be the result of our observation - to
be dependent upon the structure and function of our sensory experience?
By Hume's Statement we are necessarily steered to the question of how
body and mind, or the material and the psychic, are connected. We are required
to state our position regarding the haunting problern that has occupied
philosophers for more than 2000 years. If one advocates the so-called dualis
tic position (t hat body and mind are two separate, independent entities) , as do
many, like Sir Karl Popper and Sir John Eccles1, then David Hume's comment
concerning beauty implies that aesthetics is a philosophical discipline whose
truths are inaccessible to empirical methods. The question of the biological
foundations of human experience would, then, be irrelevant to the considera
tion and evaluation of beauty.
One of the main postulates of Schopenhauer, the German philosopher,
was (in agreement with Kant) that the world, as it appears on the surface, is
the world of our subjective imagination: We can know neither a sun nor an
earth but only an eye that sees the sun and a hand that feels the earth.2 The
world surrounding us only exists in relation to the perceiving individual.
In modern physics3 and also in modern brain research4 one classical ques
tion of philosophy keeps reappearing: What, actually, is reality? We have be
come accustomed to considering reality as that which is made available to us
by sensory input from our surroundings. We tend, however, to forget the ex-
10
traordinary plasticity and learning ability of the human brain - a fact em
phasized by modern brain research. Reality is, then, a construct - the valida
tion or rejection of hypotheses that we have established concerning the so
called objective world.5 We create this reality not only by using our senses; we
create a new reality in art. Cultural history is characterized by the continuing
development of new artistic styles. Theseare necessarily contained by biologi
cal boundaries; however, the human mind attempts to produce new art forms.
These are initially found disturbing, but, with the passage of time, they be
come accepted. New realities are created that surpass the sensory impressions
we receive from the outside world. In this way, art serves to extend our con
cepts of reality - within the Iimits of sensory perception and the processing
abilities of the brain - and to incorporate new realms of experience.
As the neurosciences reveal more about the functional organization of the
brain, philosophical problems about the mind have become the subject of com
bined efforts within the areas of neurobiological, psychological, and computa
tional research. This has resulted in a view of the mind that is, like science,
open to revision as a consequence of empirical fmdings and theoretical insight.
Consequently, many researchers who have studied the fundamentals of sub
jective processes, for example Watanabe,6 Bunge,7 Churchland,8 and Pöppel,4
have explained the physical and the psychic by the same principle, thus con
firming the so-called monistic position assumed earlier by Ernst Mach.9 This
position becomes clearer if one observes the evolution of brains of various
creatures up to the human Ievel. One can see that each psychic function or
every type of behavior is dependent upon the existence of certain neuronal
structures and the related algorithms. As scientists we are, therefore, obliged
to investigate neuronal processes to achieve an understanding of mental ac
tivity.
With these developments in mind, a group of neuroscientists,
psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, artists, musicians, and a poet met
seven times between July 1979 and January 1983 at the Werner Reimers Foun
dation, Bad Hornburg vor der Höhe, West Germany, to discuss the question of
whether there are biological aspects of aesthetic judgement and creativity.
None of the participants was a recognized specialist in the field of art history
or aesthetics. Instead, it was the expectation that scientists and performing art
ists who are concerned with the biological foundations of mental processes
may have something valid to say about the biological basis of aesthetics. As a
result of these meetings, the group succeeded in establishing some concepts
and elucidating some problems in the ernerging field of neuroaesthetics, which
are documented in the contributions of this book.
For the members of the group, another experience was equally important.
New perspectives - a heightened awareness of hitherto ignored features,
11
forms, colors, and combinations - were presented. The contributions made
during the meetings deepened the participants' appreciation of certain aspects
of human behavior that belong to the essential pursuit of self-expression, ex
altation, and enlightenment. The compulsion to create something of beauty or
significance of oneself and one's surroundings revealed itself as a universal
human quality, uniting mankind vertically throughout history and horizontally
across the most diverse of cultures. Aesthetic behavior (rhyming, dancing,
making music, painting, self-decoration, cooking) was found tobe not only a
socializing process but also a vent for frustrations and hostility, serving to con
tain conflict. Thus, it was recognized as a communicative process providing
a universally understandable bond to reaffirm the humanness and nobility of
each individual in his/her culture.
References
1. Popper KR, Eccles JC ( 1977) The self and its brain. An argument for interactionism.
Springer International, Berlin
2. Schopenhauer A (1883) The world as will and idea. Routledge and Kegan Paul, Lon
don. Translation of: Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, 1818
3. Rohrlieh F (1987) From paradox to reality. Our basic concepts of the physical world.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
4. Pöppel E (1988) Mindworks. Time and conscious experience. Rarcourt Brace
Jovanovich, Boston. Translation of: Grenzen des Bewusstseins. Über Wirklichkeit
und Welterfahrung. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, 1985
5. Gregory RL (1987) Perception as hypotheses. In: Gregory RL (ed) The Oxford com
panion to the mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 406-408
6. Watanabe S (1985) Pattern recognition. Human and mechanical. John Wiley, New York
7. Bunge M (1985) Treatise on basic philosophy. Epistemology and methodology ill:
Philosophy of science and technology. Part II: Life science, social science and tech
nology. D. Reidel, Dordrecht
8. Churchland PS (1986) Neurophilosophy. Toward a unified science of the mind-brain.
MIT Press, Cambridge
9. Mach E ( 1914) The analysis of sensation and the relation of the physical to the psychi
cal. The Open Court, Chicago. Translation of: Die Analyse der Empfmdungen -
und das Verhältnis des Physischen zum Psychischen, 6th edn. G. Fischer, Jena,
1911