1.The term paleoanthropsychobiological is coined by Dissanayake, E, the author of “What is Art For?” and it is made to describe the author’s own view of art for life’ sake. Paleoanthropsychobiological contains three main ideas of the concept of art and they are: human history, human societies, and the combination of emotional need and effects.
2. In her points of view, making special means “particularly things that one cares deeply about or activities whose outcome has strong personal significance. ” (22) And more important, “special is different from the mundane, the everyday, the ordinary.” (22)
3. The three different theories of art throughout western European history are Modernism, Postmoderinism, and the species-centered view of art.
The Modernism theory developed in 18th century, and the idea of art is about “a concern with elucidating principles such as taste and beauty that govern all the arts and indeed make them not simply paintings or statues but examples of art.” (P.17)
The Postmodernism theory developed “after the political calamities and barbarisms of the twentieth century, the Enlightenment and Victorian faith in human intelligence and goodness.” (P.20)
The species-centered view of art theory developed by Dissanayake, and it “combines modernism’s proclamation that art if of supreme value and a source for heightened personal experience with postmodernism’s insistence that is belongs to everyone and is potentially all around us.”(22) More important, this theory states the significant connection between what human found important and the way they enhance the importance.
In the article “What is Art For?” the author Dissanayake, E briefly talks about the development and some significant changes of Western concept of art throughout history, and from her own view of art for life’s sake, she called it “palaeoanthropsychobiological- first, that the idea of art encompasses all of human history; second, that it include all human societies; third, that it accounts for the fact that art is a psychological or emotional need and has psychological or emotional effects.” (P.15) And she also came to develop the idea of art is helping human species survive from very early period, just as the role of art in the ritual ceremonies. Art is important, and “adopting the species- centered view of art (P.26)” can make human species better understanding art.
In the TED video, the speaker Denis Dutton introduces the Darwinian theory of beauty and he states that beauty is complicated as the variety of beautiful: “Human beings, natural landforms, works of art, and skilled human actions.” Dutton gives some examples such as Beethoven is adored in Japan and American music and movies go everywhere around the world to represent the beauty is about universal crossed and culture, aesthetics, pleasure and value. And then he points out the natural selection and sexual selection which is about the biological aspect. In his talking, the example I am interested the most is about the landscape pattern that people from world tend to be love it. With the open spaces of low grass and water, a pathway towards the distant, and wild animals and birdlife just freely involved.
People always think that the artistic beauty is exhaustively influenced by culture; however, I think culture does impacts the way artist critical thinking of art and selecting tools to make art, but not where the motivation comes from. Just like people from different places with different cultural backgrounds tend to love one typical landscape, the real passion of creating or responding art is coming from the biological selection of human species that arose in very early period and will pass it to generations and generations. My question is, if art is universal and everyone can appreciate art even without understanding what the real meaning behind it, how one can have the emotional changes just by looking or watching the art?