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Art and Adaptability
Consciousness and Cognitive Culture
Series: - Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, Volume: 52
Author:
Art and Adaptability argues for a co-evolution of theory of mind and material/art culture. The book covers relevant areas from great ape intelligence, hominin evolution, Stone Age tools, Paleolithic culture and art forms, to neurobiology. We use material and art objects, whether painting or sculpture, to modify our own and other peopleâs thoughts so as to affect behavior. We donât just make judgments about mental states; we create objects about which we make judgments in which mental states are inherent. Moreover, we make judgments about these objects to facilitate how we explore the minds and feelings of others. The argument is that itâs not so much art because of theory of mind but art as theory of mind.
Gregory F. Tague, Ph.D. (1998), New York University, is Professor of English and founder and senior developer of The Evolutionary Studies Collaborative at St. Francis College, N.Y. Recent, relevant books include Evolution and Human Culture (Brill|Rodopi, 2016) and Making Mind: Moral Sense and Consciousness (Rodopi, 2014).
âThe text is said to offer a novel hypothesis on the evolutionary roots of art, based on theory of mind. In itself, this proposal is compelling...â
â Larissa Mendoza Straffon, Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society
âThe general argument of the book is interesting and sound, and is well developed with different layer of explanation.... The manuscript fits within an upcoming and ongoing tendency to study the origins of art from a cognitive perspective that specifically emphasizes theory of mind...doing so from a similarly interdisciplinary point of view. As such, the contents are both innovative and fitting within actual developments in this field.â
â Eveline Seghers, Department of Art, Music and Theatre Studies, Ghent University
âGregory F. Tague approaches two ancient questions, what is art and what does it do, in a new and intriguing way. Drawing on science, specifically evolution through natural selection, he proposes that art, like other forms of social behavior, is in part genetic, creative or imaginative impulse, and part environmental, social interaction. Support for this proposal comes from primate studies and current studies in neurobiology, cognition, intelligence and communication. He proposes, and I agree, that culture is common among great apes with whom we share social and mental abilities. Modern humans, however, unlike other primates, have a more highly degreed theory of mind. This ability to make predictions based on the perceived mental states of others facilitated our ancestorsâ ability to competitively cooperate. Culture, which would include art, was, as he explains, âpart of a predictive attempt to affect anotherâs emotional or cognitive outcome, often in subtle ways.â As influence is a critical part of social behavior, art, which has costs that can be quite high, provides social benefits.
In sum, the road Tague takes to answering the questions â what is art and what does it do, how might it be connected to health, pleasure, play, sociality, and emotions â is complex; however, art is not a simple thing to explain. While he draws on many variables to build and support his argument, he provides the reader with a provocative and enlightening journey. Art and Adaptability is an excellent book â a fabulous search through many fields for an explanation of the curious behavior we call art.â â Kathryn Coe, Ph.D., Professor and Lilly Scholar in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Indiana University-Purdue University. Author, The Ancestress Hypothesis: Visual Art as Adaptation
â Larissa Mendoza Straffon, Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society
âThe general argument of the book is interesting and sound, and is well developed with different layer of explanation.... The manuscript fits within an upcoming and ongoing tendency to study the origins of art from a cognitive perspective that specifically emphasizes theory of mind...doing so from a similarly interdisciplinary point of view. As such, the contents are both innovative and fitting within actual developments in this field.â
â Eveline Seghers, Department of Art, Music and Theatre Studies, Ghent University
âGregory F. Tague approaches two ancient questions, what is art and what does it do, in a new and intriguing way. Drawing on science, specifically evolution through natural selection, he proposes that art, like other forms of social behavior, is in part genetic, creative or imaginative impulse, and part environmental, social interaction. Support for this proposal comes from primate studies and current studies in neurobiology, cognition, intelligence and communication. He proposes, and I agree, that culture is common among great apes with whom we share social and mental abilities. Modern humans, however, unlike other primates, have a more highly degreed theory of mind. This ability to make predictions based on the perceived mental states of others facilitated our ancestorsâ ability to competitively cooperate. Culture, which would include art, was, as he explains, âpart of a predictive attempt to affect anotherâs emotional or cognitive outcome, often in subtle ways.â As influence is a critical part of social behavior, art, which has costs that can be quite high, provides social benefits.
In sum, the road Tague takes to answering the questions â what is art and what does it do, how might it be connected to health, pleasure, play, sociality, and emotions â is complex; however, art is not a simple thing to explain. While he draws on many variables to build and support his argument, he provides the reader with a provocative and enlightening journey. Art and Adaptability is an excellent book â a fabulous search through many fields for an explanation of the curious behavior we call art.â â Kathryn Coe, Ph.D., Professor and Lilly Scholar in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Indiana University-Purdue University. Author, The Ancestress Hypothesis: Visual Art as Adaptation
Acknowledgements
Simplified Radiations of Select Primate Species
Simplified Radiations of Select Hominin Species
The Long Pleistocene
Introduction: Setting Boundaries
1 Intelligence: Communication and Theory of Mind
âGreat Ape Intelligence and Communication
âSymbolic Communication and Consciousness
âInter-Subjectivity and Evolution
âGreat Ape Theory of Mind
âHuman Theory of Mind
âArtificial Intelligence
âThe Anthropocentric Attitude
âChapter One Dovetail
2 Culture: The Adapted Mind
âHuman Network: Scope and Scale
âSymbolic Culture
âCulture and the Adapted Mind
âGene/Culture Co-Evolution
âCulture and Social Selection
âCulture and Epigenetics
âMind Sharing
âChapter Two Dovetail
3 Adaptive Functions: Selection and the Human Psyche
âAdaptation and Natural Selection Defined
âPhenomenal Consciousness
âAdaptive Problems and Questions
âDarwin and Natural Selection
âDarwin and Sexual Selection
âSelection and Tools
âCognition, Cooperation, and Extended Evolution
âMaking Special
âPleistocene Landscape Preferences
âCan We Define Art?
âNeanderthals and Art
âCave Painting and Superstition
âArt and Altered States of Consciousness
âCave Art and Images
âArt and the Human Psyche
âBeauty, the Brain, and the Body
âChapter Three Dovetail
4 Objections: Philosophy and Byproducts
âPhilosophy and Art
âPinkerâs Cheesecake for the Mind
âAn Art Instinct?
âCorrective to Art as Sexual Selection
âHumanology
âSocial Selection Over Sexual Selection?
âThe Biology of Art as Speculative?
âTwo Hypotheses
âExplanatory Dilemma
âChapter Four Dovetail
5 Neurobiology and Cognition: Consciousness and Representation
âArtistic Behavior and the Social Brain
âThe Subject of Aesthetics
âOrienting Creative Cognition
âArt, Ambiguity, and Making Meaning
âRepresentation and Metarepresentation
âBodily and Cultural Consciousness
âLine or Color?
âSeeing Reality Abstractly
âKnowledge, Beauty, and Neutrality
âFrom Discontinuity to Essence
âBrain Sight and Insight
âBeauty and Cognitive Emotions
âRitual Art
âChapter Five Dovetail
Conclusion: The Arts and Sciences
Bibliography
Index
Simplified Radiations of Select Primate Species
Simplified Radiations of Select Hominin Species
The Long Pleistocene
Introduction: Setting Boundaries
1 Intelligence: Communication and Theory of Mind
âGreat Ape Intelligence and Communication
âSymbolic Communication and Consciousness
âInter-Subjectivity and Evolution
âGreat Ape Theory of Mind
âHuman Theory of Mind
âArtificial Intelligence
âThe Anthropocentric Attitude
âChapter One Dovetail
2 Culture: The Adapted Mind
âHuman Network: Scope and Scale
âSymbolic Culture
âCulture and the Adapted Mind
âGene/Culture Co-Evolution
âCulture and Social Selection
âCulture and Epigenetics
âMind Sharing
âChapter Two Dovetail
3 Adaptive Functions: Selection and the Human Psyche
âAdaptation and Natural Selection Defined
âPhenomenal Consciousness
âAdaptive Problems and Questions
âDarwin and Natural Selection
âDarwin and Sexual Selection
âSelection and Tools
âCognition, Cooperation, and Extended Evolution
âMaking Special
âPleistocene Landscape Preferences
âCan We Define Art?
âNeanderthals and Art
âCave Painting and Superstition
âArt and Altered States of Consciousness
âCave Art and Images
âArt and the Human Psyche
âBeauty, the Brain, and the Body
âChapter Three Dovetail
4 Objections: Philosophy and Byproducts
âPhilosophy and Art
âPinkerâs Cheesecake for the Mind
âAn Art Instinct?
âCorrective to Art as Sexual Selection
âHumanology
âSocial Selection Over Sexual Selection?
âThe Biology of Art as Speculative?
âTwo Hypotheses
âExplanatory Dilemma
âChapter Four Dovetail
5 Neurobiology and Cognition: Consciousness and Representation
âArtistic Behavior and the Social Brain
âThe Subject of Aesthetics
âOrienting Creative Cognition
âArt, Ambiguity, and Making Meaning
âRepresentation and Metarepresentation
âBodily and Cultural Consciousness
âLine or Color?
âSeeing Reality Abstractly
âKnowledge, Beauty, and Neutrality
âFrom Discontinuity to Essence
âBrain Sight and Insight
âBeauty and Cognitive Emotions
âRitual Art
âChapter Five Dovetail
Conclusion: The Arts and Sciences
Bibliography
Index
Students and scholars interested in the adaptive function of the arts, the evolution of culture, human evolution and intelligence, and continuities between humans and great apes will find Art and Adaptability insightful.