Text in English / This work is organised around two main objectives: a) the formulation of a new
conceptual framework as the basis for a new scientific aesthetic; and (b) an attempt
to explain the possibilities and current limitations of neuroscience in aesthetics.
The first part of the work is devoted to the conceptual foundations of aesthetics. In
the first chapter, I analyse the philosophical assumptions reflected in
neuroaesthetics. In particular, I would like to show that the concept of art on which
neuroaesthetics is based is both conceptually and empirically untenable.
In the second chapter, I propose a new conceptual framework for a theory of
aesthetics; in particular, I present new definitions of key concepts in aesthetics, such
as 'art', 'artistic system', 'artistic movement', 'artwork', and so forth.
Furthermore, in the second chapter, I advance the view that—even though the
neurosciences are an essential part of aesthetics—not every aesthetic problem
requires a neuroscientific solution. In other words, there are aesthetic problems that
cannot be answered satisfactorily by neuroscience using only its special concepts
and terminology. Some questions may require additional sociological, physical and/or
semiotic concepts, and explanatory devices.
The second part of this thesis deals with the experimental aspects of the
neuroscience of artistic appreciation. First, I argue that the conceptual foundations
underlying much of the current approaches to neuroaesthetics are still problematic
and that the experimental approach cannot be applied in any straightforward manner
to conduct neuroaesthetic research.
I then review some of the most important results of experimental aesthetics and
cognitive neurosciences with regard to the mechanisms of aesthetic appreciation
before proposing a new neurocognitive model of artistic appreciation based on the
notion of an artistic 'task-set'
Finally, I end the second part with a theoretical postulate and a neurocognitive
framework pertaining to the interactions between mental images and emotions and
their possible role in the process of appreciating literary artworks.
In the third and final part of the work, I briefly discuss the central ontological
preconditions of the neurocognitive studies of art, namely, the neural hypothesis of
identity, ‘mind = brain’, and compare it to other approaches of the mind-brain
relationship. I also offer a hierarchical model of mental functions based on both the
anatomical and the functional aspects of the brain. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/25676 |
| Date | 01 1900 |
| Creators | Romp, Andreas Johannes |
| Contributors | Janeke, Hendrik Christiaan |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (xiii, 261 leaves) : color illustrations, application/pdf |
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