I. Beauty -- What is this thing called beauty? -- Captivating faces -- The measure of facial beauty -- The body beautiful -- How the brain works -- Brains behind beauty -- Evolving beauty -- Landscapes -- Numbering beauty -- The illogic of beauty -- II. Pleasure -- What is this thing called pleasure? -- Food -- Sex -- Money -- Liking, wanting, learning -- The logic of pleasure -- III. Art -- What is this thing called art? -- Art: Biology and culture -- Descriptive science of the arts -- Experimental science of the arts -- Conceptual art -- The roots of art -- Evolving minds -- Evolving art -- Art: A tail or a song? -- The serendipity of art
Summary
'The Aesthetic Brain' takes the reader on a wide-ranging journey addressing fundamental questions about aesthetics and art. Using neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, Chatterjee shows how beauty, pleasure, and art are grounded biologically, and offers explanations for why beauty, pleasure, and art exist at all
