November 18, 2010
IN FACT, IT'S JUST AESTHETICS:
Evolution as Aesthetic Experience (Quinn O'Neill, 11/15/10, 3QuarksDaily)
Aesthetic experience affects the senses, emotions, and intellect. It’s often associated with works of art, like paintings, dance, or music. Such experience is unique and personal; it depends not just on the artwork itself, but on the meaning that we attach to it and the feeling that this generates. [...]While the role of subjectivity is well recognized in the artistic realm, art isn’t exceptional in its ability to create aesthetic experience. Such experience could be created by multicolored autumn foliage or an expansive view of the night sky. It can also be created by immaterial entities, like concepts.
Evolution is one such concept. By evolution, I mean “the scientific theory of evolution”--that concept that creates controversy in non-scientific circles despite an abundance of supporting evidence. Just as with a piece of art, we can present evolution to a group of people and they may each respond differently. Evolution comes with strings attached--preconceptions, associations, and implications. People’s perception of evolution isn’t shaped just by empirical facts, but by the meaning and feeling that they attach to it. Their response will be influenced by their worldview, personality traits, and a host of other factors.
The only important question for the Darwinist is what it says about him that he finds the theory aesthetically pleasing.
