Currie, Gregory Paul orcid.org/0000-0001-8364-997X and Zhu, Xuanqi (2019) Aesthetic sense and social cognition::a story from the Early Stone Age. Synthese. ISSN 0023-7857
Abstract
Human aesthetic practices show a sensitivity to the ways that the appearance of an artefact manifests skills and other qualities of the maker. We investigate a possible origin for this kind of sensibility, locating it in the need for co-ordination of skill-transmission in the Acheulean stone tool culture. We argue that our narrative supports the idea that Acheulean agents were aesthetic agents. In line with this we offer what may seem an absurd comparison: between the Acheulean and the Quattrocento. In making it we display some hidden complexity in human aesthetic responses to an artefact. We conclude with a brief review of rival explanations—biological and/or cultural—of how this skills-based sensibility became a regular feature of human aesthetic practices.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Author(s) |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Philosophy (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jun 2020 15:10 |
Last Modified: | 22 Jan 2025 00:14 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02476-3 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s11229-019-02476-3 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:161879 |
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