Art as Communication: Aesthetics, Evolution, and Signaling

Is art a form of communication? If so, what does art express or represent? How should we interpret the meaning of works created by more than one artist? Is art an adaptation, via natural selection? In what ways is art similar to—and different from—language? Art as Communication: Aesthetics, Evolution, and Signaling employs information theory, the theory of evolution, and the newly developed sender-receiver model of communication to reason about art, aesthetic behavior, and its communicative nature. Shawn Simpson considers whether art, from a biological point of view, is the province of only humans or whether animals might reasonably be said to create art. Examining the work of evolutionary biologists, art theorists, linguists, and philosophers—including Charles Darwin, Stephen Davies, H. Paul Grice, and others—he addresses how well different theories of communication explain meaning and expression in art and argues that art is much more continuous with other forms of communication than previously thought.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. Theories of Representation and Expression in Art Chapter 2. Signs, Symbols, and Meaning Chapter 3. Group Communication Chapter 4. Art and Communication Chapter 5. Art and Evolution Chapter 6. Maps, Blueprints, and Other Communicative Devices Postscript References

About the Author :
Shawn Simpson is visiting lecturer in the department of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh.

Review :
“With refreshing frankness and simplicity, Art as Communication returns us to age-old questions about what matters most about art and sheds new light on them by bringing to bear a model of communication, the ‘sender-receiver’ model, that is more biologically-grounded than its traditional philosophical competitors. His discussion is grounded in a wealth of specific examples drawn from a wide-range of artforms. Shawn Simpson is admirably patient and thorough in building its case that the sender-receiver model affords a more comprehensive and unified understanding of individual and collective communication across the arts and across the human/animal divide.” Although defended by commentators like Tolstoy, the notion of art as communication has not received much attention by philosophical aestheticians as of late, but as the title signals, Art as Communication intends to redress that lacuna. Shawn Simpson puts his theory in the context of traditional theories of art as well as setting forth the approach to communication he intends to apply to art—the sender/responder model—in terms of its historical antecedents in addition to cutting-edge contemporary research. Though the material is complex, the clarity of the text is exemplary and the generous use of artistic examples engrossing in their own right. Not only is Simpson’s book a novel challenge to the debate among philosophers of art. It can serve as a welcoming introduction for ordinary consumers of art who are curious about its nature.