Dissanayake, Ellen
What Is Art For?
- ISBN 13:
- 9780295970172
- author:
- Dissanayake, Ellen
- format:
- Paperback
- publisher:
- University of Washington Press
- language:
- English
- Publication Year:
- 1988
- Pages:
- 266
- Genre:
- Anthropology
- Condition:
- New
- Availability:
- Item usually sent within 20 working days
Description
Art as an Intrinsic Human Endowment Ellen Dissanayake's groundbreaking study explores the universal significance of art in human existence. Challenging modern Western notions, she argues that art is a fundamental characteristic of the human species, evolved to make socially important activities memorable and pleasurable. By examining art alongside play and ritual, Dissanayake proposes that making special is an inherited tendency as intrinsic to humans as speech and toolmaking. This original approach integrates multiple disciplines, including human ethology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and psychology, to shed new light on the origins, nature, purpose, and value of art. A comprehensive and provocative analysis, this book offers a fresh perspective on the role of art in human life and its essential contribution to our survival.
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