The Unification of the Arts

Reviews / Votes

The Unification of the Arts is a major contribution to our understanding of the origin and nature of the arts. Brown's argument is tremendously insightful and tenaciously consistent, though some readers may disagree with some of his core assumptions or assertions, such as a direct adaptive value of the arts, the possibility of group selection, the overwhelming importance of cultural influences, and a downplaying of individual-level competition and achievement in the arts. * Aaron Kozbelt, Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture * The Unification of the Arts demarcates a valuable perspective on some of the most meaningful and rewarding aspects of human experience, and I am keen to see how it will shape our ongoing understanding of them. * Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture * The Unification of the Arts is a major contribution to our understanding of the origin and nature of the arts. Brown's argument is tremendously insightful and tenaciously consistent. * Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture * The major strength of this book, however, is the broadening of scope and also its interdisciplinary approach...This is quite refreshing. Besides, the book also provides a lot of historical and philosophical digressions, such as Plato's distinction between modes of storytelling that are acted out (mimesis) or narrated (diegesis), Aristotle's concept of imitation and catharsis, Diderotas definition of acting theory, Baumgarten's view on aesthetics, Rameauas harmonicity theory on the origins of scales, and Rousseau's conception of the joint origin of music and language. The multiple illuminating figures and tables with classification schemes are also quite refreshing and inspiring. * Mark Reybrouck, Journal of Medical Humanities * The Unification of the Arts is a thought-provoking study that will be a welcome challenge to many readers more familiar with traditional debates on art and aesthetics. * Leonardo Reviews * It is one thing to study different art forms from a cognitive perspective: it is another to bring together these different lines of research into a unified conceptual framework. This is what Brown aims to do in his ambitious and important book The unification of the arts: A framework for understanding what the arts share and why....Brown has done what few modern cognitive scientists are equipped to do, because most of us specialize in one specific domain (e.g., music psychology) by choice or necessity...Brown's book deserves a wide audi- ence among researchers in cognitive science, the arts, and philosophy, and will be a valuable resource for scholars and students for many years to come. * Aniruddh D. Patel, Musicae Scientiae *