"Do Animals Make Art, or: the Evolutionary Continuity of Species: A Case for Uniqueness"
We invite you to read the article by Dr. Jerzy Luty, published in AVANT. Trends in Interdisciplinary Studies Vol. VIII, No. 1/2017, which is an extra result of the research within TICASS project.
ISSN:2082-6710 avant.edu.pl/en
DOI: 10.26913/80102017.0101.0008
http://avant.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/Luty-Do-Animals-Make-Art.pdf
Abstract:
When Władysław Tatarkiewicz wrote that there are only two things that can be said about art: that it is a human activity, not a product of nature, and that it is a conscious activity (or its product), adding that every statement about art different from the ones mentioned above was always finally overthrown (Tatarkiewicz, 1980, p. 37), he probably did not think that the first claim could be questioned by anyone. In the following paper, I will trace the history of observations of “artistic behaviors” that were made by animal ethologists and then processed by evolutionary art philosophers which may lead to the hypothesis about the validity of assigning artistic abilities to animals. In respect to this article, it is aimed at a wide audience. I will also demonstrate that the question: whether, and in what sense, animals create art is in fact a question about a definition of art that could include this type of intentional animal acts.
Keywords: evolutionary aesthetics; animal-made art; ethology; art definition.
ISSN:2082-6710 avant.edu.pl/en
DOI: 10.26913/80102017.0101.0008
http://avant.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/Luty-Do-Animals-Make-Art.pdf
Abstract:
When Władysław Tatarkiewicz wrote that there are only two things that can be said about art: that it is a human activity, not a product of nature, and that it is a conscious activity (or its product), adding that every statement about art different from the ones mentioned above was always finally overthrown (Tatarkiewicz, 1980, p. 37), he probably did not think that the first claim could be questioned by anyone. In the following paper, I will trace the history of observations of “artistic behaviors” that were made by animal ethologists and then processed by evolutionary art philosophers which may lead to the hypothesis about the validity of assigning artistic abilities to animals. In respect to this article, it is aimed at a wide audience. I will also demonstrate that the question: whether, and in what sense, animals create art is in fact a question about a definition of art that could include this type of intentional animal acts.
Keywords: evolutionary aesthetics; animal-made art; ethology; art definition.
