A New Cultural Theory of Aesthetics

This book develops a theory of aesthetics that criticizes scientific and philosophical reductionism that denies the importance of culture in art and taste, but its theory accepts some fundamental aspects of Neo-Darwinist theory of culture by addressing points of convergence among the notions of meme, simulacrum, and symbol.

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Traditional aesthetics has tried to locate the reasons for aesthetic value in the transcendental subject while neglecting the importance of culture, even though it is obvious that artistic styles vary from culture to culture in both a geographical and historical sense. However, after recognizing importance of a cultural approach, one is faced with the problem of how to do so without dissolving aesthetics into art history or visual culture, the risk faced in both continental and analytic philosophical aesthetics. Scientific theories of aesthetics inspired by evolutionary psychology and cognitive science show promise, but they seek explanations without considering the importance of the cultural variations, offering reductive and superficial interpretations. Science has to consider the role of culture, and the only way to do so is through Neo-Darwinist theories of culture, like the memetic theory. In A New Cultural Theory of Aesthetics: Genes, Memes, Symbols, and Simulacra, Roberto Terrosi combines cultural research in the continental sphere with Neo-Darwinist theories to arrive at a new approach to aesthetics that is as sensitive to the problems posed by critical theory as it is to those posed by scientific research.