Evolutionary Aesthetics

**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 sexuality, with regard to landscape preferences, but also in the area of "artificial beauty" (i.e. in art and design) - that beauty opens up fitness opportunities, while ugliness holds fitness risks. In this book, this adaptive view of aesthetics is developed theoretically, presented on the basis of numerous examples, and its consequences for evolutionary anthropology are illuminated. Front Matter....Pages I-X Introduction....Pages 1-5 Front Matter....Pages 7-7 Darwinian Aesthetics Informs Traditional Aesthetics....Pages 9-35 Front Matter....Pages 37-37 The Beauties and the Beautiful — Some Considerations from the Perspective of Neuronal Aesthetics....Pages 39-68 The Role of Evolved Perceptual Biases in Art and Design....Pages 69-130 From Sign and Schema to Iconic Representation. Evolutionary Aesthetics of Pictorial Art....Pages 131-170 Front Matter....Pages 171-171 Beauty and Sex Appeal: Sexual Selection of Aesthetic Preferences....Pages 173-200 Beyond Nature Versus Culture: A Multiple Fitness Analysis of Variations in Grooming....Pages 201-237 Aesthetic Preferences in the World of Artifacts — Adaptations for the Evaluation of ‘Honest Signals’?....Pages 239-260 Handaxes: The First Aesthetic Artefacts....Pages 261-275 Front Matter....Pages 277-277 Human Habitat Preferences: A Generative Territory for Evolutionary Aesthetics Research....Pages 279-294 Bodies in Motion: A Window to the Soul....Pages 295-323 Perfumes....Pages 325-339 Do Women Have Evolved Adaptation for Extra-Pair Copulation?....Pages 341-368 Back Matter....Pages 369-377 "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 ... that beauty opens up fitness opportunities, while ugliness holds fitness risks."--Back cover