PHILARTS

• Art


  Skill as a result of learning or practice
• The fact that people value art in every culture and civilization and take the trouble to express themselves aesthetically, implies that there is an evolutionary reason why people continue to create art
• Art


  • It has a survival value
• Etymology of the word "Art"


  Skill as a result of learning or practice, from Old French art, from Latin artem meaning work of art, practical skill, a business, craft
• Functional Explanations for Individual Arts


  • Sesotho praise poems deepen the audience's awareness of itself as a historically continuous community as they encourage conformity to socially approved modes of valorous behavior in battle
  • The ritual performance of the Bwiti cult aids in the resolution of cognitive dissonance in a transitional culture by integrating past and present
• Functional Explanations for Individual Arts

  • Body ornamentation is selectively valuable to attract mates, differentiate individuals, impress, or indicate status or condition
• Evolutionary biologists have as a rule refrained from attributing selective value to art or mentioning it in any evolutionary context, others have shown a more commendable awareness of the universality of what could be termed an artistic proclivity in human nature
• Art


  • It echoes or reflects the natural world of which we are part
  • Our responses to aesthetic elements depend on the pervasiveness of spatial metaphor in our conceptualization of experience
  • The ubiquity and pervasiveness of rhythm in bodily and cosmic processes
  • Words we use to describe intense experiences of art often reflect physical sensations and mirror the natural rhythms and processes that occur throughout life
• Art is therapeutic


  It allows us to temporarily forget about the stresses and mundane aspects of everyday life and immerse ourselves in the beauty, harmony, and elegance of art, which contrasts with the sometimes chaotic and mundane nature of our daily experiences
• Art is adaptive and desirable


  It allows direct, "thoughtless", unself-conscious experience, a kind of apprehension that has atrophied in modern times
• Art exercises and trains our perception of reality

  It prepares us for the unfamiliar or provides a reservoir from which to draw appropriate responses to experience that has not yet been met with
• Metaphor


  It serves as a stimulus to "functional regression" and acquaints us with aspects of mentality and experience that our everyday practical mind ignores or dismisses as illogical or contradictory
• Art assists in giving order to the world

  The human mind is predisposed to create and respond to order; the ability to classify, to generalize, to separate subject and object, self and nonself, has been a paramount contribution to humankind's evolutionary success
• Art "dishabituation"


  In artistic experiences we often respond in an unusual, nonhabitual way
• The aim of art is not to represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance
• Art provides sense of meaning and significance to human life


  Persons who feel assured of an art's meaning are more likely to accept difficulties and problems in life, guaranteeing its continuance
• Art has the most central of biological functions, of insisting that life be worthwhile, which, after all, is the final guarantee of its continuance
• Research reveals a significant reduction in cortisol hormone levels after a 45-minute art-making session
• Creative art interventions contribute to short-term well-being by reducing stress, anxiety, and fostering positive emotions
• Art: Alternate Reality


  The art there is often revealed as a "reality" that seems to be behind everyday experience or a world that is beyond this world
• Play


  It has traditionally provided the fiction of an alternate life, the excitement lacking in normal experience, and the opportunity to pretend
• Functionalist Interpretations


  • Historical and primitive art primarily served social functions such as documentation, illustration of precepts, reinforcement of beliefs, distraction, entertainment, and displays of wealth and power
• Social Realism


  An art movement brought on by the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the Great Depression in America
• Contemporary Art


  • In the modern Western sense, art has become increasingly private and elitist, with the rise of exclusive art galleries, high-end auctions, and private collections that cater to wealthy and privileged clientele
  • The advent of digital platforms and social media led to the emergence of niche art communities that may further contribute to the perception of art as an elitist pursuit
• Art as Protest


  Art serves as a powerful tool for expressing opinions and advocating for social change, providing unique visual representations of values and serving as catalysts for societal transformation
• Art and Social Coherence


  Engagement in arts programs, particularly in later life, helps rebuild social connections and extend community support, enhancing social interactions and improving well-being
• Humans have always created art and the fact that people value art in every culture and civilization and take the trouble to express themselves aesthetically, implies that there is an evolutionary reason why people continue to create art
• Dissanayake's arguments on humanity's motivations to make and consume art

  • To reflect on the natural world
  • For therapy
  • For adaptability and desirability
  • To exercise perception of reality
  • To assist in giving order in the world
  • For dishabituation
  • To provide a sense of meaning
  • As a vessel of empathy and social bonds
• Dissanayake's function of art is to show people that art is a reflection of reality, indicating that it constantly changes and adapts over time. It will remain not just for its aesthetic appeal but for what art means to our perception and the stories behind it
• Anthropology


  The study of what makes us human, deriving from the Greek words anthropos meaning humans or humankind and logos meaning study
• To understand the full sweep and complexity of cultures across all of human history, anthropology draws and builds upon knowledge from the social and biological sciences as well as the humanities and physical sciences
• Anthropology


  • A discipline of infinite curiosity about human beings
  • The exploration of human diversity in time and space
  • The most liberating of all the sciences
• Anthropology flourished in the context of conqueror-conquered relations concomitant with the West's conquest of the non-Western world, making possible the practical and analytic separation between native peoples as objects of investigation and Western anthropologists as the investigating subjects
• Anthropology developed within the colonial context, emerging as a discipline during the age of European imperialism, with anthropologists frequently employed as part of the colonial administration to provide insights into the cultures, traditions, and social structures of the colonized populations
• Anthropology


  • Anthropologists take a holistic approach studying the entirety of the human condition and all aspects of all human groups, biologically, culturally, in the present and past
  • Anthropologists maintain a cross-cultural perspective, studying and comparing all past and present human societies, contributing to the knowledge about the roles that 'nature' and 'nurture' play in defining human similarity and diversity
• Four Branches of Anthropology

  • Cultural
  • Archaeology
  • Linguistic Anthropology
  • Physical Anthropology
• Cultural Anthropology


  The study of living human cultures, including ethnography (detailed description of a contemporary culture through direct observation), ethnology (cross-cultural evaluation topic using ethnographic data), and ethnohistory (the study of cultures from the recent past through evidence from historic documents and early ethnographic research)
• Archaeology


  The study of past human cultures through excavation of material remains, including prehistoric archaeology (the study of societies prior to the invention of writing) and historic archaeology (the study of past literate societies), focusing on artifacts, features, and sites to reconstruct and interpret past ways of life and cultural evolution
• Linguistic Anthropology


  The study of language & communication, including structural linguistics (the study of universal features of language, variation within languages, and the manner in which language reflects cultural perceptions and beliefs), historical linguistics (the study of ancient languages to reconstruct historical relationships between cultures), and sociolinguistics (the study of the relationship between social differences and language within and across cultures)
• Physical Anthropology


  The study of human biological variation and evolution, including genetics, physiology, and the biological adaptations of living humans, using fossil evidence to study human evolution, as well as osteology (the study of excavated human bones) and primatology (the study of living primates and their ancestors)