beauty changes everything
I started Aesthetics Research Lab (ARL) in 2016 because I sensed that there were people around the world, in unexpected professions and disciplines, who had an affinity toward aesthetics, even if they didn't know the jargon or theories. I also never understood why my discipline (philosophy) focuses conversations about aesthetics so much on art alone. … Continue reading 7 Year Summary
Guest post by P. Winston Fettner Cuteness, it seems, is more important than it's been given credit for. It's place in evolutionary aesthetics is essential, not only for its role in developing Darwinian and empirical approaches to aesthetics, but also in the application of evolutionary aesthetics to ethics, even suggesting a contribution to the ethics … Continue reading On Cuteness
Engineering, we might think, is simply the application of math and science to solve practical problems. However, there exists an intimate connection with aesthetics. Rolf Faste—in his article "The Role of Aesthetics in Engineering"—mentions that the word 'aesthetics' has its origins in ancient Greek with the idea of sense perception. To understand the importance, he … Continue reading Engineering Aesthetics: Beautifying Practical Solutions
Natural selection is the process organisms adapt to their environment to give them a better chance at survival. Though he proposed and defended this theory, Charles Darwin did not believe it could explain everything. That's why he also proposed sexual selection, by which he meant that females choose the most appealing males and males evolve … Continue reading Extravagant Evolution
The Leonardo Electronic Almanac has released its newest book, Cloud and Molecular Aesthetics. This volume situates a critical discourse on the molecular data–cloud and aesthetics within contemporary experiences of art and society. It reflects varied perceptions and current thinking by artists, curators, scientists, and theorists in comprehending the appropriation and colonization of the cloud. The cloud … Continue reading Cloud and Molecular Aesthetics – New Volume
Michael Bond has written a piece for the BBC discussing the hidden ways that architecture can affect our well-being. Drawing from current studies from neuroscience and psychology, Bond examines how small details on buildings can have a big affect on people. One notable study, conducted by Colin Ellard, showed that people are negatively affected by … Continue reading Details that Matter
Richard Prum (William Robertson Coe Professor of Ornithology at Yale University) released a new book called The Evolution of Beauty. Perhaps, there is an aesthetic component to evolution? Philosopher Alva Noë reviews this book here.
“One goes always upwards for the sake of this Beauty, starting out from beautiful things and using them like rising stairs.” -Plato, Symposium, 211c Einstein, defending his theory of general relativity, claimed that it was too beautiful, so it could not be false. Beauty has been a motivation and an indicator for many scientists (maybe … Continue reading Beauty as an Indicator in Physics
Beauty has motivated many scientists to research the world. Since many consider beauty to be subjective, this may seem a strange motivation for a field that is considered mostly objective. Ashutosh Jogalekar offers an idea about the relationship between beauty and truth in scientific research. Click here for the article.