Denis Dutton talks about the
question “ What is beauty?”, he says the people like things as Starry Night by
Van Gogh, plays of Chejov, novels, etc. withouth to know why. Then, Denis
answers based in Darwinian Theory, because the experience of beauty derives of
Darwinian adaptions in human evolution, specifically in two mechanisms: natural
selection and sexual selection. The first explains our tastes, fears and
pleasures. The second is for survival and reproduction.
Also, the interest for landscapes because this is a
visual experience fascinating.
Finally he refers to art, it began in Prehistory with
the earlist human artworks, for example cave paintings or sculptures.The
skills, symmetry and materials, in tools is not for hunt or attack, so these
objetcs are works of art. Our aesthetics points of view came from thousands of
years, therefore we like this prehistoric pieces.
I agree with Denis that our tastes are
conditioned by the culture in which we live, because sometimes is inexplicable
the universal aesthetic, I understand it´s something genetic with the Darwinian theory. Although, I think the subjectivity is different for each one,
if we like the same things, and it wouldn´t be cultural diversity in the world.
In my case, the food is a problem for me, I am “mañosa” (I´m sorry I couldn´t
translate), I don´t like chocolate, but most people love it.