The term “paleoantropsychobiological” is a term enriched with multiple meanings. Although this word may seem a little excessive I believe that was Ellen Dissankayake’s purpose; to show that art can not be sanctioned down to one simple definition, but instead it is an abundance of paradigms, and art happens to be a trait within ourselves that has been present all throughout history.
This trait can date all the way back to the Paleolithic time period where art was seen on cave paintings. Art can be seen through an anthropological lens as well because like Dissankayake says art is cross-cultural and can be seen in every culture in existence. Furthermore, art is a psychological reaction. Art comes from within, and it is made through emotions. And last but not least art is a biological mechanism, just the same as aggression, sex, language, etc.
When reading the phrase “making special” I originally didn’t really understand what Dissankayake meant by this. However, after understanding the circumstance at which she used the phrase, “making special” made complete sense once it was put into context. Since before we can remember the people inhabiting earth shared major commonalities and Dissankayake describes these similarities in her article saying that we have “tendencies to be sociable, to acquire and use language, to make and use tools, to impose conceptual order, to attempt to control or regularize the forces of nature, to join with our close associates in mutual endeavor”(Dissankayake, 22). Now with all of these human like characteristics comes the need to highlight our talents, more specifically the things that make us feel good about ourselves, the things that help elevate our abilities to another level, and like Dissankayake says, “things that one cares deeply about or activities whose outcome has strong personal significance”(Dissankayake, 22). All of these descriptions are exactly what art is and does for us. It is a release that every human needs in order to maintain equilibrium in such a stressful society.
A theory of art that was relevant in the past however still holds some significance today is the theory that art was solely used for religious purposes. During the medieval time period, art was used to pay respect to God and his services. Followed by the renaissance period where religion was still a main priority in art however aesthetics began to be recognized. Not only that but different themes began to show within art that gravitated away from God being the topic of interest, and mans interest showed great importance with art. During the 18th century art became much more unique focusing on individualism and transformation of the ‘ideal’ into the new and modern. Social movements began to shed light on altering viewpoints and people began questioning their place in society. “For example, while individualism became possible and people could be freed from tradition, custom and authority, they also became more alienated from their work and from other people”(Dissankayake, 17). All of these changes brought insecurities however from these insecurities came art that had never been seen before.