The Art Instinct

The Art Instinct PDF

Author: Denis Dutton

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0199539421

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The Dinka have a connoisseur's appreciation of the patterns and colours of the markings on their cattle. The Japanese tea ceremony is regarded as a performance art. Some cultures produce carving but no drawing; others specialize in poetry. Yet despite the rich variety of artistic expression to be found across many cultures, we all share a deep sense of aesthetic pleasure. The need to create art of some form is found in every human society.In The Art Instinct, Denis Dutton explores the idea that this need has an evolutionary basis: how the feelings that we all share when we see a wonderful landscape or a beautiful sunset evolved as a useful adaptation in our hunter-gather ancestors, and have been passed on to us today, manifest in our artistic natures. Why do people indulge in displaying their artistic skills? How can we understand artistic genius? Why do we value art, and what is it for? These questions have long been asked by scholars in the humanities and in literature, but this is the first book to consider the biological basis of this deep human need.This sparking and intelligent book looks at these deep and fundamental questions, and combines the science of evolutionary psychology with aesthetics, to shed new light on longstanding questions about the nature of art.

The Quality Instinct

The Quality Instinct PDF

Author: Maxwell L. Anderson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1442276827

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Part personal memoir, part thinking person's guide to the museum, The Quality Instinct is filled with wit and humor, anecdotes, and insights from the author's 30 years in the highly competitive, often contentious art world. Maxwell Anderson takes us on a grand tour of ancient and contemporary art, sharing five simple metrics of quality that help us to increase our "visual literacy" as we learn to see, not simply look-and yes, to judge.

The Art Instinct

The Art Instinct PDF

Author: Denis Dutton

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2009-01-01

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1596914017

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Challenges popular conceptions in art theory and criticism to argue that human tastes in the arts are evolutionary traits shaped by Darwinian selection as opposed to social construction, in a volume that explains the role of evolution in aesthetic preferences while calling for a practice of art criticism from an evolutionary standpoint. 40,000 first printing.

The Consuming Instinct

The Consuming Instinct PDF

Author: Gad Saad

Publisher: Prometheus Books

Published: 2011-06-21

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1616144300

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In this highly informative and entertaining book, the founder of the vibrant new field of evolutionary consumption illuminates the relevance of our biological heritage to our daily lives as consumers. While culture is important, the author shows that innate evolutionary forces deeply influence the foods we eat, the gifts we offer, the cosmetics and clothing styles we choose to make ourselves more attractive to potential mates, and even the cultural products that stimulate our imaginations (such as art, music, and religion). The book demonstrates that most acts of consumption can be mapped onto four key Darwinian drives—namely, survival (we prefer foods high in calories); reproduction (we use products as sexual signals); kin selection (we naturally exchange gifts with family members); and reciprocal altruism (we enjoy offering gifts to close friends). The author further highlights the analogous behaviors that exist between human consumers and a wide range of animals. For anyone interested in the biological basis of human behavior or simply in what makes consumers tick—marketing professionals, advertisers, psychology mavens, and consumers themselves—this is a fascinating read.

Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct PDF

Author: Reepal Parbhoo

Publisher: Prima Games

Published: 2013-11-22

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780804162760

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· The Ultimate Killer Instinct Fan Book takes a retrospective look at the series to showcase the art and history of the franchise and its characters. · A True Collectors Item Packed With Exclusives - The Killer Instinct Ultra Fan Book includes exclusive interviews with the development team and the creator of the series, exclusive artwork that can't be seen anywhere else and exclusive back stage tour through the studios making the game. · Living Mobile Guide for All Character Strategies - Each hardcover book includes access to the living strategy guide with videos, tips and strategies all constantly being updated to cover the latest game changes and new characters. · Includes 16 Page Pull-Out Jago Strategy Guide - Exclusive Strategy booklet provides in-depth coverage of Jago, your free character included with Killer Instinct. · Learn from Killer Instinct Pros - Updated Strategies written by our tournament-champion authors and verified by the Killer Instinct team to take your game to the next level. · Explore the Studios Behind Killer Instinct - Peek inside the minds of the creators to see their inspiration and learn how the characters and their art has evolved.

The Music Instinct

The Music Instinct PDF

Author: Philip Ball

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010-09-02

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 9780199780075

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From Bach fugues to Indonesian gamelan, from nursery rhymes to rock, music has cast its light into every corner of human culture. But why music excites such deep passions, and how we make sense of musical sound at all, are questions that have until recently remained unanswered. Now in The Music Instinct, award-winning writer Philip Ball provides the first comprehensive, accessible survey of what is known--and still unknown--about how music works its magic, and why, as much as eating and sleeping, it seems indispensable to humanity. Deftly weaving together the latest findings in brain science with history, mathematics, and philosophy, The Music Instinct not only deepens our appreciation of the music we love, but shows that we would not be ourselves without it. The Sunday Times hailed it as "a wonderful account of why music matters," with Ball's "passion for music evident on every page."

The Art of Asking

The Art of Asking PDF

Author: Amanda Palmer

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Published: 2014-11-11

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1455581070

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FOREWORD BY BRENE BROWN and POSTSCRIPT FROM BRAIN PICKINGS CREATOR MARIA POPOVA Rock star, crowdfunding pioneer, and TED speaker Amanda Palmer knows all about asking. Performing as a living statue in a wedding dress, she wordlessly asked thousands of passersby for their dollars. When she became a singer, songwriter, and musician, she was not afraid to ask her audience to support her as she surfed the crowd (and slept on their couches while touring). And when she left her record label to strike out on her own, she asked her fans to support her in making an album, leading to the world's most successful music Kickstarter. Even while Amanda is both celebrated and attacked for her fearlessness in asking for help, she finds that there are important things she cannot ask for-as a musician, as a friend, and as a wife. She learns that she isn't alone in this, that so many people are afraid to ask for help, and it paralyzes their lives and relationships. In this groundbreaking book, she explores these barriers in her own life and in the lives of those around her, and discovers the emotional, philosophical, and practical aspects of THE ART OF ASKING. Part manifesto, part revelation, this is the story of an artist struggling with the new rules of exchange in the twenty-first century, both on and off the Internet. THE ART OF ASKING will inspire readers to rethink their own ideas about asking, giving, art, and love.

An Instinct for Truth

An Instinct for Truth PDF

Author: Robert T. Pennock

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2019-08-13

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0262042584

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An exploration of the scientific mindset—such character virtues as curiosity, veracity, attentiveness, and humility to evidence—and its importance for science, democracy, and human flourishing. Exemplary scientists have a characteristic way of viewing the world and their work: their mindset and methods all aim at discovering truths about nature. In An Instinct for Truth, Robert Pennock explores this scientific mindset and argues that what Charles Darwin called “an instinct for truth, knowledge, and discovery” has a tacit moral structure—that it is important not only for scientific excellence and integrity but also for democracy and human flourishing. In an era of “post-truth,” the scientific drive to discover empirical truths has a special value. Taking a virtue-theoretic perspective, Pennock explores curiosity, veracity, skepticism, humility to evidence, and other scientific virtues and vices. He explains that curiosity is the most distinctive element of the scientific character, by which other norms are shaped; discusses the passionate nature of scientific attentiveness; and calls for science education not only to teach scientific findings and methods but also to nurture the scientific mindset and its core values. Drawing on historical sources as well as a sociological study of more than a thousand scientists, Pennock's philosophical account is grounded in values that scientists themselves recognize they should aspire to. Pennock argues that epistemic and ethical values are normatively interconnected, and that for science and society to flourish, we need not just a philosophy of science, but a philosophy of the scientist.

The Art of Fear

The Art of Fear PDF

Author: Kristen Ulmer

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2017-06-13

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 0062423436

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A revolutionary guide to acknowledging fear and developing the tools we need to build a healthy relationship with this confusing emotion—and use it as a positive force in our lives. We all feel fear. Yet we are often taught to ignore it, overcome it, push past it. But to what benefit? This is the essential question that guides Kristen Ulmer’s remarkable exploration of our most misunderstood emotion in The Art of Fear. Once recognized as the best extreme skier in the world (an honor she held for twelve years), Ulmer knows fear well. In this conversation-changing book, she argues that fear is not here to cause us problems—and that in fact, the only true issue we face with fear is our misguided reaction to it (not the fear itself). Rebuilding our experience with fear from the ground up, Ulmer starts by exploring why we’ve come to view it as a negative. From here, she unpacks fear and shows it to be just one of 10,000 voices that make up our reality, here to help us come alive alongside joy, love, and gratitude. Introducing a mindfulness tool called “Shift,” Ulmer teaches readers how to experience fear in a simpler, more authentic way, transforming our relationship with this emotion from that of a draining battle into one that’s in line with our true nature. Influenced by Ulmer’s own complicated relationship with fear and her over 15 years as a mindset facilitator, The Art of Fear will reconstruct the way we react to and experience fear—empowering us to easily and permanently address the underlying cause of our fear-based problems, and setting us on course to live a happier, more expansive future.