From: Geoff <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Geoff, Neurology and "Art"
To: [email protected]
Date: Saturday, December 20, 2008, 10:16 PM
Boris: I agree regarding the significance for any behaviour
of our
neurological system. However, however much I might know
regarding how my car
engine works, the process by which I decide to Hoboken and
the route I
select to get there is different from the workings of the
car, which are
essential to my getting to my destination. Or, however much
I undestand the
anatomy and physiology of my brain, I believe that my
selection of the true,
the beautiful and the judicious will be a process beyond
the understanding
of my neural circuits, but surely dependent on them
(keeping in mind that I
have not yet read Hauser's book).
Geoff C
Geoff C
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: Geoff, Neurology and "Art"
> There is no question that neurological process is a
vehicle for any
> human
> action including the most complex - Art. In trying to
analyze the
> connection
> it would be methodologically correct to use natural
bridge between two -
> experimental psychology. The field that closely deals
with both.
> Boris Shoshensky
>
>
>
> -- Luc Delannoy <[email protected]> wrote:
> Geoff, is hostility in the air ? or patronizing ?
>
> Geoff to WC:
> "When you learn something about aesthetics from
brain imaging and
> neurosurgery
> let me know what it is."
>
> Luc to Geoff:
> Where have you been in the last 20 years?
>
> Geoff to WC
> "...infer poetically.."
>
> Luc to Geoff
> You mean neuroscientists are poets ?
>
>
> Neuroscience + aesthetics = neuroaesthetics is not
about understanding
> expressionism or impressionism per se but about
studying and understanding
> the
> nature of the human creative process (both from the
creator and receptor
> perspectives.) That includes coming up with a theory
of perception.
>
> It seems you are confusing the process and the outcome
or result of the
> process.
>
> Neuroaesthetics could help understand how the artist
got there and how/why
> the
> public feels what/how/when it feels. It is not about
the "artwork" per se
> but
> about processes (auditive, visual for example). It
combines principles
> from
> evolutionary biology, functional brain anatomy,
perceptual and cognitive
> psychology, musicology, philosophy, cognitive
archaelogy, anthropology.
>
> Since we know that a brain could see an object
simultaneously under
> different
> perspectives we understand how an artist got to
cubism. A stressed brain
> with
> aesthetic fatigue could explain Magritte's works.
>
> As far as the public taste you are mentioning, you
might investigate the
> invariants in functional brain anatomy - they might
explain the reasons
> why
> people from different cultures at different times
enjoy Don Gionnavi for
> example, or Vermeer...
>
> Understanding the auditive and visual brains can help
us design proposals
> for
> the education system and talk straight in the eye to
members of
> departments of
> education.
>
> Neuroscience and neuroaesthetics in particular is not
about me in front of
> a
> painting trying to understand the meaning of the
concept of impressionism;
> it
> is about the well being of society at large
>
> About reading: some of the seeds of neuroaesthetics
are in De Anima by
> Aristotle (see also Theophrast). Then we could jump to
Montaigne and John
> Dewey to read about human experience. Then jump to
Ramachandran and Amy
> Ione
> for example, but also to the philosophers working on
the relations between
> art, brain and human consciousness. But then also:
Alcmeon, Galeno, Thomas
> Willis, Da Vinci, Galvani, Broca, Wiernicke, Brodmann
I just simply cannot
> drop names... I myself investigate musical
consciousness.
>
> I currently work in Mexico with a group of patients
with cerebral palsy
> (working on neuroplasticity to better their
condition). They couldn't care
> less about sarcams about the validity of
neurosciences. They couldn't care
> less if some people have existential anxiety when
viewing voxels on a
> computer
> screen, voxels that "translate" their
