Beauty?

[thedoc]

And things like a Piet Mondrian painting, which has no "survival benefit".

That brings up an interesting question, do artists have a better chance of attracting a mate and reproducing that non-artists. On our first date, I found a piano and played "Moonlight Sonata" for my wife. Did that influence her decision to stay with me and eventually get married to me? She says it was a pivotal moment in our relationship. BTW, it was a complete surprise for her, as I hadn't mentioned playing the piano to her before that. My first wife knew that I knew how to play the piano and the cornet, we were in the college orchestra together. When we went to her home one weekend, they had a piano, and I sat town and played "Fur Elise" from memory and her younger sister said "I hate you". Apparently she was struggling to learn that piece.

[thedoc]

Is the artist separate from the art that is created, or is that art an extension of the artist, and part of the attraction for a mate?

How do you define what has survival value, and what does not?

[Conde Lucanor]

That brings up an interesting question, do artists have a better chance of attracting a mate and reproducing that non-artists.

Not if they're not famous and it also depends on the type of artist.

[Conde Lucanor]

Is the artist separate from the art that is created, or is that art an extension of the artist, and part of the attraction for a mate?

How do you define what has survival value, and what does not?

Evolutionary Psychology has popularized and taken too far some concepts of evolution. Everything, even the most complex products of culture, appear to have a natural, biological explanation, reduced to their "survival benefit". There's usually poor science behind such claims and a lack of interest in looking for the multiple, dialectical factors and circumstances that determine particular outcomes. It's easier to reduce the explanations to teleological behavioral mechanisms.

[thedoc]

That brings up an interesting question, do artists have a better chance of attracting a mate and reproducing that non-artists.

Not if they're not famous and it also depends on the type of artist.

Do you have any data to back this up, or is it just your opinion? And what do you mean by the type of artist?

[Conde Lucanor]

That brings up an interesting question, do artists have a better chance of attracting a mate and reproducing that non-artists.

Not if they're not famous and it also depends on the type of artist.

Do you have any data to back this up, or is it just your opinion?

An opinion, as any other one in this thread. An artist is just an artist, but fame usually signals that someone stands out and is implied that deserves attention.

And what do you mean by the type of artist?

In rock bands, bass players seem to get less attention than guitar players or lead vocalists. It's a common joke from bass players in internet.

[thedoc]

There was a time when photography was not considered an art form, but photography is becoming more accepted as an art form. Art can take many forms and employ many different mediums, it is dangerous to denigrate an art form because you are not adept in that medium.

I am registered on a trumpet forum and many brass players make jokes about string and woodwind players. Many of them are quite funny, but not at all true, some of them are just recycled "blond jokes".

[Conde Lucanor]

There was a time when photography was not considered an art form, but photography is becoming more accepted as an art form.

It depends on what we call an "art form". The term may not mean exactly the same all the time: it can refer to any formal expression, or an activity that requires study and practice to master (regardless of whether mastery is achieved or not), and not necessarily with an aesthetic intention. Sometimes, that is what it meant for ancient Greeks. It can also mean just the aesthetic intention, something that a so called "art form" might not be really attempting. A photography might just illustrate an event and not be "artistic" in that sense. And so is with music, painting, whatever...

Art can take many forms and employ many different mediums, it is dangerous to denigrate an art form because you are not adept in that medium.

Just wondering, has anyone in this forum denigrated an art form?

[Dubious]

Just wondering, has anyone in this forum denigrated an art form?

That depends on whether an art form is denigrated by going obsolete or is nearly so already.

[thedoc]

Back to my point about attracting a mate, on our first date my wife and I went roller skating and then went to a lounge to listen to some music. When the band took a break, we got up to walk around, and found an upright piano sitting under a set of stairs. We sat down and I played the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata for her, she said later, that at that moment she decided I was a "keeper". I hadn't said anything about being able to play the piano, so it was a bit of a surprise. My thought was that did preforming as an artist, increase my being attractive as a mate?

[thedoc]

In wild animal populations it is usually the biggest, strongest and the brightest that attract a mate. Birds have bright colored feathers, and mammals have thicker, brighter fur and louder calls among other things. All these outward signs indicate good health and relative lack of parasites. Could being an artist, be a similar signal among humans?

[TSBU]

It is a tautology, as Lucanor said. And we are like we are because we are what we are, it has not a single simple answer, reality is conected... why am I posting this? because my parents decided to have a baby. Because the earth was formed millions of years ago, because...

Why do you ask that question to yourself? Maybe because you have a plan in your head, but that plan doesn't fit with how you rally are... Why are many people atracted to bodies that, end the end, are worse for survival? (Like enormous tits... ask any women with big tits about that, they serve no purpose, but it's a common "like" in males) Because that's the best way to satiafy themselves they've learnt from enviroment. It can be wrong, the same with many things, things that are cool and fashion today, are going to be "bad taste" in a couple of years. If you see that some of your tastes contradict others... you should analyze yourself. But, even if they don't serve any purpose you can put on words, if it doesn't contradict yourself, just enjoy it. Do you like big tits? then enjoy them XD.

Don't try to analyze what is useless to analyze: Why is 2+2=4? Why are we atracted to atractive things? because it is that way.

[HexHammer]

Why we have the tendency to beautiful things, beautiful mate for example, knowing the fact that it does not have any survival value from evolutionary perspective?

Why do you always ask silly self explanatory questions? Was you sheltered as a kid? ..bumped your head much? ..or just born this way?