Philosophy On The Mesa

Brian Boyd’s essay in the American Scholar on the evolutionary origin of art and narrative is speculative but nevertheless interesting on a variety of levels. He argues that art and storytelling are adaptations.

 “Art is a form of cognitive play with pattern…Our adult compulsion for the cognitive play of art—from tribal work songs to tradesmen’s transistors to urbanites’ iPods—allows us to extend and refine the neural pathways that produce and process pattern in sonic, visual, and kinetic modes, and especially in sociality.”

Art makes us smarter, as a species, because it enhances our capacity for complex pattern recognition. The cognitive play of art—both its production and consumption—influences differential survival rates thus conferring a reproductive advantage on those who participate.

And why do we engage in this cognitive play? In a word, pleasure.

It’s the pursuit of pleasure, at least of the kind that is produced by pattern recognition, that explains the emergence of human intelligence—so much for Plato’s campaign against artists and religion’s campaign against pleasure.

Perhaps this is what Mill had in mind when he argued that the higher pleasures are to be valued more highly than the lower pleasures.

I guess good sex guided by the Kama Sutra must be better than unaided good sex.

This is a fascinating account of the making of one of rock music’s greatest works–Blonde on Blonde by Dylan.

It illustrates the importance of the sonic properties of rock music. Even a lyricist of Dylan’s stature obsesses endlessly about sound.

What is a real folk song as opposed to a mere pop song? Is it the authentic voice of a clearly defined ethnic group or community? A song performed without the expectation of being paid for it?  Both definitions have been offered by fans; neither withstands scrutiny, according to Barker and Taylor.

It seems to me that authenticity in music isn’t defined by where it comes from or what its purpose is. It has more to do with the artist’s ability to express (or seeming to express) lived experience. To the extent an artist convinces the informed audience that she is inhabiting the ethical (understood broadly) framework of the song, it is a form of folk music.