The Indispensable Excess of the Aesthetic Evolution of Sensibility in Nature [Hardcover]

Philosophical aesthetics is now in a new age.?One of the main subjects of the New Aesthetic is the theory of aesthesis (perception/feeling).?Katya Mandoki offers a daring new version of this theory.?In a sense, the author tries to answer the questions: why is the beautiful beautiful? What is the very origin of art?? The field of her argument is, of course, the theory of evolution, with the main reference being Darwin, philosophys confrontation with the sciences, and many different forms of knowledge so as to dazzle us: exuberance as the subject of the book is performed.This book is a unique contribution to the recent body of work on the significance of the aesthetic in human evolution. It offers a compelling argument for grounding the aesthetic in the naturalistic frame of evolutionary theory. Mandoki's account is richly informative, guiding the reader through a wide body of scholarship in biology, cognitive science, semiotics, psychology, cultural studies, history, philosophy, and aesthetics. Her sharp eye cuts through the mass of vague universal concepts such as genes and memes, dubious dichotomies, and competing and conflicting theories, always guided by the recognition of connections and contexts. At the same time the writing is unfailingly fresh and engaging and even sparkles with wit. A rare achievement.This book offers a compelling account of the evolution of sensibility, weaving together Darwinian and biosemiotic theory. It works along non-anthropomorphic aesthetics of the appreciation and creation of beauty in nature as an end in itself which has practical benefit.The Indispensable Excess of the Aesthetic: Evolution of Sensibility in Nature traces the evolution of sensibility from the most primal indications detectable at the level of cellular receptors and plant tendril sensitivity, animal creativity and play to cultural ramifications. Taking on Darwins insistence against Wallace that animals do have a sense of beauty, and on recent evolutionarylӟ