AEsthetics: A Critical Theory of Art.

Bowerbirds, art and aesthetics

Male bowerbirds create and decorate a structure called a bower which serves only to attract females for mating, and females visit and choose one among many bower owners before deciding which male to mate with. Is what they do art, and do they have an aesthetic sense? I propose operational definitions of art, judgement, and an aesthetic sense which depend upon communication theory which allow on...

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Aesthetics, Art, Evolution

This paper discusses issues in evolutionary art related to Art Theory and Aesthetics with a view to better understanding how they might contribute to both research and practice. Aesthetics is a term often used in evolutionary art, but is regularly used with conflicting or näıve understandings. A selective history of evolutionary art as art is provided, with an examination of some art theories f...

Marcuse's Aesthetics and the Displacement of Critical Theory

Marcuse's initial concern with the relationship between art and politics, as set forth in "Affirmative Character of Culture," I originated during the years which witnessed the efforts of the fascists to consolidate their political interests by means of a total mobilization of all social strata in German society. Whereas the major thrust of the article was directed towards an exposition of the d...

Critical Remarks on “Mystical Aesthetics” The Case of Persian Painting

There are several texts pertaining to Perisian painting which explain its aesthetics on the basis of mysticism and the notion of imaginal world. This point of view bears some methodological problems. Some of the prominent scholars (Corbin, Burckhardt, Nasr, Ringgenberg et al.) refering to Ibn ‘Arabi’s mystical notions, have tried to show that the specific aesthetics o...