Strictly speaking, I guess it would be possible for us to survive without art. Getting fed is more immediately important than being entertained. All we really "need" to survive is air, water, food and shelter. Most other species on the planet survive without art. Would it matter if humanity stopped producing art? What if we turned our attention and resources entirely to science and to solving pressing practical problems like climate change, to feeding, housing and educating all of humanity, to advancing medical science, and to not so obviously pressing ones like exploring the cosmos? What if we did this instead of devoting time, effort and money to the arts? Would we lose anything that is necessary by abandoning art? If you think art is vital to humanity, what is it about art that makes it too important for us to abandon?
(The term “art” here refers to all art forms: painting, film, literature, music, dance and so on.)
Comments
I think essentially humans are creative, some more than others obviously.
We are capable of creating chaos as well as beauty.
Art in all its forms is language, I dont believe it would be possible to abandon it.
It is food for the soul, for those who want to create it is a must and not necessarily a choice.
Imagine how drab and dreary life would be without the arts.
The spark of life would be extinguished.
So, would it be correct to say that you believe art is part of what it means to be human? That we couldn't give it up?
There's a lot more I could say on the question, however, I want to give others a chance to respond before I give my own views. But I'm guessing your views and mine will be very similar.
I guess here they feel the need to expand the capacity of their mind (and soul). So, any kind of art becomes important to them depending upon their capacity (e.g. Marvel movies against vs. critically acclaimed ones). Historic people created art for the same reason and the trend continues. Comparing the significance of higher things against the basic needs is a faulty way to judge. It denies all the good things that we have achieved since the beginning!
I take it that you think life without art would be a bleak existence. I'm sure most would agree.
I think art adds 'Quality' to our lives. I don't use the word lightly because it may mean something different to each of us. In the book 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', the quest to define what 'Quality' is seemingly nearly drove the Author Robert Pirsig to the brink of insanity.
We all have our own histories and we most likely communicate best with those of at least similar histories. As a Chef my entire working life, I believe that good wholesome food, prepared with the needed knowledge of the craft, fresh ingredients, and a desire to please and impress (hospitality)...are the ingredients needed to improve the recipients 'Quality' of life. Creating that experience has an element of art attached to it that can positively or negatively effect all of the senses. Nutrition can also be sustenance, that which we need to survive, and there are far too many people still in that place.
Art has the ability to inspire one to think - and that can lead to something wonderful!
Yes, there's no question that we value the arts and would feel their absence. I guess I am wondering why that is so. Why are we the only species to engage in art.
My own idea is that, in may ways, art and science feed into each other and it may not be possible to engage in one without the other as this week's question asks us to imagine. Art and science are two sides of the one coin. And once a level of intelligence that enables rationality evolves, art becomes inevitable.
@whunt, I would definitely include the culinary arts under the umbrella term 'art".
Because of the type of creatures we are, I don't think we can help doing art. It's part of what it means to be human. As well as satisfying our innate need to express our feelings, it helps us make sense of the world and our experience of it . It's like a mirror we hold up to the world to see it and ourselves more clearly. Or perhaps art is like a conversation we have about the world and our experience in it.
No doubt the need to express ourselves through art was built into us - there is a biological explanation for it - and, as Theodosius Dobzhansky famously put it, "nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution." And I imagine that any intelligent species that evolved anywhere in the universe would, if they also have emotions, need to be doing art of some sort.
The preliterate Australians 50,000 years ago spoke in many languages, about 450 dialects across this wide brown land , nearly as large as the United States. The language that unified them all was art, paintings and engravings.
The earliest engravings were geometric shapes, suggestive of landscape markers to water, food sources and essential materials. The most elaborate of these looked like maps.
The mid range engravings depicted animals, perhaps used as teaching aids for children . As sea level rose on the North West Coast of Western Australia marine creatures came to be the dominant motifs. The growing population relied on these animals for survival.
The latest engravings mostly show human figures with equipment and weapons. Commonly lines between human figures show relationships and family ties. Hand stencils in red ochre were common markers of visitation or ownership. Increasingly elaborate headdresses depict spiritually endowed men and supernatural beings responsible for the creation of the earth.
In all societies we interact through symbolic communication. Art easily provides unity, direction, education, sustenance, cultural elaboration, self awareness, understanding of the environment, and referents to the supernatural.
In our own ethnic group art was used to bring the bible to the illiterate masses and strike the fear of God into us all.
Denis
I think the true value is the emotional expression that is conveyed, whether by a painting, the written word, music or dance.
Great works impact us emotionally and have an element of truth in what is expressed.
The consensus seems to be that life without the arts would not be a full or satisfying life. Humans need more than just air, water, food and shelter to flourish.
Once basic survival needs are met, it seems as if humans don't have a choice about whether to pursue/engage in/partake of the arts in some form. What else is there to do? At the deepest level it's an effort to plug into something greater than ourselves. The arts seem to add meaning to life in a similar way religion has, and still does, for many people. The arts are an escape, a refuge from the cold realities of the human condition, and a way of transcending and making peace with it. A way of having our say about it all. As the ancients realized, Ars longa, vita brevis. Great works of art live on after us and so provide enjoyment, wonder and instruction for future generations. And they provide a sort of immortality to their creators.
The bottom line is that it seems we need the arts at least as much as we need the sciences to be fully ourselves.
Thanks again, everyone. A new Weekly Question will be posted soon but if anyone wants to add anything to this one it's not too late.
Rob
Thank you