Author : Irving Massey
Publisher : University of Texas Press
ISBN 13 : 0292752792
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (927 download)
Book Synopsis The Neural Imagination by : Irving Massey
Download or read book The Neural Imagination written by Irving Massey and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2009-11-15 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Art and technology have been converging rapidly in the past few years; an important example of this convergence is the alliance of neuroscience with aesthetics, which has produced the new field of neuroaesthetics. Irving Massey examines this alliance, in large part to allay the fears of artists and audiences alike that brain science may "explain away" the arts. The first part of the book shows how neuroscience can enhance our understanding of certain features of art. The second part of the book illustrates a humanistic approach to the arts; it is written entirely without recourse to neuroscience, in order to show the differences in methodology between the two approaches. The humanistic style is marked particularly by immersion in the individual work and by evaluation, rather than by detachment in the search for generalizations. In the final section Massey argues that, despite these differences, once the reality of imagination is accepted neuroscience can be seen as the collaborator, not the inquisitor, of the arts.