L’arte non è speciale

Un’offensiva contro chi critica la concretezza del cervello umano
Martin Skov e Marcos Nadal
 
The editorial series Sinapsi [synapses] collects texts published in the journal Nodes since its foundation, as well as unpublished content. It delivers different writing forms: essays, interviews, scientific articles and of wide circulation.
The intention is to make accessible to readers, on the one hand, contents that are no longer available and, on the other hand, topics and writing never published before.
 
Abstract Vol. 5
The assumption that human cognition requires exceptional explanations holds strong in some domains of behavioral and brain sciences. Scientific aesthetics in general, and neuroaesthetics in particular, abound with claims for art-specific cognitive or neural processes. This assumption fosters a conceptual structure disconnected from other fields and biases the sort of processes to be studied. More generally, assuming that art is “special” is to cling to the idea that some aspects of our species’ mental constitution makes us unique, special and meaningful. This assumption continues to relegate scientific aesthetics to the periphery of science and hampers a naturalised view of the human mind.
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