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376 Pages·2003·8.45 MB·English
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Eckart Voland· Karl Grammer (Eds.) Evolutionary Aesthetics Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH Eckart Voland· Karl Grammer (Eds.) Evolutionary Aesthetics With 57 Figures, 11 in Colour, and 7 Tables Springer Professor Dr. ECKART VOLAND Center for Philosophy and Foundations of Science Justus-Liebig-University Giessen Otto-Behaghel-Strasse 10 C 35394 Giessen Germany Professor Dr. KARL GRAMMER Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology University of Vienna Althanstrasse 14 1090 Vienna Austria ISBN 978-3-642-07822-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Evolutionary aesthetics I Eckart Voland, Karl Grammer, eds. p. cm. "With 57 figures, 10 in color, and 7 tables". Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-3-642-07822-4 ISBN 978-3-662-07142-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-07142-7 I. Aesthetics-Psychological aspects. 2. Evolutionary psychology. l. Voland, Eckart, 1949-II. Grammer, Karl, 1950- BH30l.P78E96 2003 111' .85-dc21 This work is subject to copyright. All rights reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current ver sion, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH. Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law. http://www.springer.de © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003 Originally published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York in 2003 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover Design: Design & Production, Heidelberg Cover photograph: Bill Lorenz Typesetting: Mitterweger & Partner, Plankstadt 31/31S0Wl - 5 4 3 2 I 0 - Printed on acid-free paper Preface This book was initiated by a roundtable meeting in April 2001 which was organized by the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI) in Altenberg, Austria. The symposium brought together scientists from various fields who presented their ideas on the evolution of aesthetics. Aesthetics, as a discipline of philosophy, truly has a rich intel lectual history. One therefore might be inclined to capitulate to its philo sophical complexity. Recent developments in evolutionary theory, however, have helped to successfully naturalize the specific Humana, above all epistemology and ethics. This observation encouraged us, also trying to bring together aes thetics with the Darwinian paradigm. The present volume, therefore, can be understood as a kind of a "Darwinian sonde" in a field traditionally occupied by non-Darwinian lines of arguments. We thank the staff of the KLI for their professional assistance with the preparation of the meeting. We are grateful to Thomas Weise and Kai Willfiihr, who showed both commitment and care when helping out dur ing the various phases of the production of this book. We are especially grateful to Dr. Adolf Heschl (KLI), who, full of sympathy and enthusiasm accompanied and supported the enterprise from the very beginning up to the making of this volume. Giessen and Vienna, March 2003 Eckart Voland, Karl Grammer Contents Introduction ............................................... . KARL GRAMMER and ECKART VOLAND I The Problem Darwinian Aesthetics Informs Traditional Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 RANDY THORNHILL II From Is to Beauty - From Perception to Cognition The Beauties and the Beautiful - Some Considerations from the Perspective of Neuronal Aesthetics. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . 3. 9 . OLAF BREIDBACH The Role of Evolved Perceptual Biases in Art and Design. . . . . . . . .. 69 RICHARD G. Coss From Sign and Schema to Iconic Representation. Evolutionary Aesthetics of Pictorial Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 131 CHRISTA SUTTERLIN III The Fitness of Beauty - Aesthetics and Adaptation Beauty and Sex Appeal: Sexual Selection of Aesthetic Preferences .. 173 UTA SKAMEL Beyond Nature Versus Culture: A Multiple Fitness Analysis of Variations in Grooming .................................... 201 MICHAEL R. CUNNINGHAM and STEPHEN R. SHAMBLEN Aesthetic Preferences in the World of Artifacts - Adaptations for the Evaluation of Honest Signals? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 239 ECKART VOLAND VIII Contents Handaxes: The First Aesthetic Artefacts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 261 STEVEN MITHEN IV Modular Aesthetics Human Habitat Preferences: A Generative Territory for Evolutionary Aesthetics Research .......................................... 279 BERNHART Ruso, LEEANN RENNINGER and KLAUS ATZWANGER Bodies in Motion: A Window to the Soul ........................ 295 KARL GRAMMER, VIKTORIA KEKI, BEATE STRIEBEL, MICHAELA ATZMULLER and BERNHARD FINK Perfumes ................................................... 325 MANFRED MILINSKI Do Women Have Evolved Adaptation for Extra-Pair Copulation? ... 341 RANDY THORNHILL and STEVEN W. GANGESTAD Subject Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 369 List of Contributors MICHAELA ATZMULLER Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria KLAUS ATZWANGER Institute for Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria OLAF BREIDBACH Ernst Haeckel Haus, University of Jena, Berggasse 7, 07745 Jena, Germany RICHARD G. Coss Department of Psychology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA MICHAEL R. CUNNINGHAM Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA BERNHARD FINK Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria STEVEN W. GANGESTAD Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA KARL GRAMMER Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria VIKTORIA KEKI Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria X List of Contributors MANFRED MILINSKI Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Max-Planck-Institute of Limnology, August -Thienemann- Strasse 2, 24306 Ploen, Germany STEVEN MITHEN Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Letters and Social Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, P.o. Box 218, Reading RG6 6AA, UK LEEANN RENNINGER Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria BERNHART Ruso Department of Retailing and Marketing, University of Economics and Business Administration, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna, Austria STEPHEN R. SHAMBLEN Pacific Institute of Research and Evaluation, 1300 South 4th Street, Louisville, KY 40208, USA UTA SKAMEL Center for Philosophy and Foundations of Science, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Strasse lOC, 35394 Giessen, Germany BEATE STRIEBEL Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria CHRISTA SUTTERLIN Film Archive of Human Ethology of the Max-Planck-Society and Human Studies Center at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Von-der-Tann-Strasse 3-5, 82346 Andechs, Germany RANDY THORNHILL Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA ECKART VOLAND Center for Philosophy and Foundations of Science, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Strasse lOC, 35394 Giessen, Germany Introduction KARL GRAMMER and ECKART VOLAND From Darwin's Thoughts on the Sense of Beauty to Evolutionary Aesthetics Humans tend to judge and sort parts of their social and nonsocial envi ronment permanently into a few basic categories: those parts they like and those parts they do not. Indeed, we have developed aesthetic preferences for those things and people we are exposed to. Moreover, needless to say, these preferences shape our behavioral choices - our tendency to seek out or avoid what the world has to offer to us. For example, humans and other animals have evolved preferences for food and habitats, for naturally occurring sensations like smells and sounds, as well as for the broad array of culturally created artifacts. Last, but not least, humans have also evolved aesthetic preferences for their sexual and social companions. Everyone knows that people may be treated differently according to their physical appearance. This differential treatment by others starts early in life. Three month-old children gaze longer at attractive faces than at unattractive faces. From these results Langlois et al. (1990) concluded that beauty stan dards are not learned and that there is an innate beauty detector. Attrac tive children receive less punishment than unattractive children for the same types of misbehavior. Differential treatment occurs throughout all school levels, from elementary to university (Baugh and Parry 1991). In this part of our lives, attractiveness is coupled with academic achieve ments. Attractive students receive better grades. However, the differentia tion does not stop there. Even when we apply for jobs, appearance may dominate qualification (Collins and Zebrowitz 1995). Differential treat ment according to physical appearance extends even as far as our legal sys tems, where high attractiveness can lead to better treatment and fewerlless harsh convictions. However, this is only the case if attractiveness did not playa role in the crime (Hatfield and Sprecher 1986). Obviously, we believe that attractive people are better. This mental cou pling of "beautiful" and "morally good" has had a long tradition in West ern cultural history. Albertus Magnus' sentence "Das Gute ist dem Schonen inharent, weil das Schone dasselbe Substrat hat wie das Gute" (loosely translated: "Well is inherent in the beautiful, as they share the

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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 sexual
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