Regina Andreassen

Aesthetics: a Cross-cultural Study on the Science of Perception Regina Andreassen

In Anthropology, the use of the term Aesthetics has been the object of intense debate. It has been argued that Aesthetics refers to a Western philosophy that stands for concepts such as Art and Beauty, and therefore the category can not be cross-culturally applied. However, this way of thought is highly imprecise because the exact definition of the term is 'things perceived'. Aesthetics refers to every area of human life in which individuals are able to apprehend their world through their senses. In order for this to happen, cognition plays a crucial role. Through the analogical thought individuals are able to make associations, confer values and find meaning in their experiences. Hence, human's life is full of aesthetic symbols, and such symbols mirror the inner world of a specific community and/or individual because they combine three basic aspects of human lives: biology, culture, and ethos. Thus, establishing an Anthropology of Aesthetics will allow to get a better view of how human beings perceive the world and how aesthetic experiences reinforce people identities, ethos, and sense of community, and contribute to the manifestation of human creativity as vehicle of change.