Recent work in both philosophy and cognitive science has shown an increasing interest in connecting the study of (individual and social) practices of art creation and appreciation to the study of the human mind. On the one hand, scholars in philosophy who investigate the arts have recognized the importance of taking studies on the mind and the brain into account in order to better understand the nature of aesthetic experience, what art is and how it works. This is the case both for empirical studies of central elements of aesthetic phenomena (e.g. emotions, perception) and for direct empirical studies of aesthetic phenomena. On the other hand, cognitive scientists and neuroscientists increasingly treat aesthetic experience and the arts as relevant human phenomena the investigation of which is likely to shed some light on the functioning of the human mind. Such an interconnection between the study of aesthetics and the arts and the study of the mind has led to the rise of some new areas of research, as for example neuroaesthetics (Zeki 1999 and Ramachandran and Hirstein 1999) and psychocinematics (Shimamura 2013). However, a satisfying integration of studies in aesthetics, the arts and human cognition is still far from being reached. The fact that scholars in the humanities and the social sciences, as well as artists, use concepts such as mirror neuron or somatic marker, while cognitive scientists and neuroscientists make references to aesthetics, works of art and aesthetic theories, are important clues for their reciprocal and mutual interest. But reciprocal interest is not enough. As William Seeley (2014) puts it: “The philosophy of art and empirical aesthetics are, to all outward appearances, natural bedfellows, disciplines bound together by complementary methodologies and the common goal of explaining a shared subject matter […] Unfortunately appearances can be deceptive. Despite common calls for rapprochement, the two disciplines rarely meet.”

For instance, a recent £600,000-worth project based at the Universities of Nottingham and Leeds in the UK (<http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/aesthetics/>) resulted in two edited volumes entitled ‘Philosophical Aesthetics and the Sciences of Art’ (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and ‘Aesthetics and the Sciences of Mind’ (Oxford University Press, 2014). But only one contributor to these volumes comes from outside of the humanities (from experimental psychology). Or take the Visual Science of Art conference (<http://ecvp.org/2015/>). This is an annual conference which has for the last three years attracted dozens of empirical aesthetics scholars, but very rarely hosts talks or posters from disciplines outside of cognitive, experimental psychology. What is needed is a framework in which there is an efficient and systematic engagement between experts in aesthetics and the arts and experimental scientists of the human mind. The present project aims to build such a framework. It does so by providing a platform for the investigation of four central topics in aesthetics: images, sounds, space and time.

Our method will be to investigate images, sounds, space and time from a twofold perspective. On the one hand, we will consider the import of a certain topic from the perspective of aesthetics. On the other, we will consider the import of the same topic from the perspective of cognitive science. Our aim is to exploit knowledge about the mind in order to improve research in aesthetics and the arts, and reciprocally to exploit knowledge about aesthetics and the arts in order to improve research on the human mind. Such a twofold perspective is the hallmark of our methodology. We want to explore topics that are relevant both for aesthetics and the philosophy of art, and for cognitive science, in order to highlight the ways in which the two approaches of inquiry are relevant to each other and shed light on their possible interconnections.

 

Within the four broad topics of images, sounds, space and time, we will consider a series of particular issues that relate aesthetics to cognitive science:

 

1. The relation between sub-personal processes and conscious experience, and especially the relevance of sub-personal processes for conscious aesthetic experience (Casati and Pignocchi, 2007, Smith 2012).
2. The peculiarities characteristic of different mental faculties and abilities (e.g. perception, memory, imagination, simulation, action, emotion, empathy and creativity), and their roles in practices of art creation and appreciation (Currie 2005, Consoli 2012).
3. The notion of egocentric space, its role in aesthetic experience, and its relationship with the functioning of the dorsal and ventral systems in the brain (Matthen 2005, Dokic 2012, Dhanraj 2014).
4. The notion of specious present, its role in aesthetic experience, and its connection to the functioning of the brain (Le Poidevin 2007).
5. The notion of modularity of perception (and the related notions of encapsulation and impenetrability) and their relevance for the study of aesthetic experience (Fodor 1983, Zeimbekis and Raftopoulos 2015).
6. The interaction between transcultural biological cognitive furniture and socio-historical, context-dependent factors in the constitution of the aesthetic experience; art is a social phenomenon, and thus we need to study the social brain involved in art production and perception (Tomasello and Carpenter 2007, Goldman and de Vignemont 2009).
7. The notion of perceptual object between aesthetics and cognitive science (Kubovy and Schutz 2010, Casati 2015).
8. How cognitive pathologies and brain damage can affect aesthetic experience (Gardner 1975, Sherwood 2012, Chatterjee et al. 2011, Bromberger et al. 2011).
9. How cognitive structures such as mental models (cf. Johnson-Laird 1983, Matravers 2014), mental files (Recanati 2012), mental representations (Haugeland 1998) and mental architectures (Nichols and Stich 2003) bear upon the mechanisms of aestheticSuch issues will be addressed through a series of talks (two per month), and a workshop, whose proceedings will be published in a volume that will constitute the final output of the project. We will host three sets of speakers. Firstly, scholars who try to connect research in aesthetics to research in the cognitive sciences and to criticize the relevance of their connection. Secondly, we will ask eminent scholars in aesthetics to consider their areas of research from the perspective of cognitive science. Thirdly and finally, we will ask eminent scholars in cognitive science to consider their research from the perspective of aesthetics and the philosophy of art.Each talk will last two hours. In the first, the invited speaker gives their talk. Then, the discussion is divided into two parts, lasting roughly half an hour each. The first part concerns the aesthetic import of the paper, while the second part concerns the relevance of the paper for cognitive science. The workshop will be organized analogously.

    

   We will focus especially on four topics: images, sounds, space, and time; this will inform the structure of our schedule:

    

    

   Semester 1: Sounds and Images between Aesthetics and Cognitive Science Topic 1.1: Sounds between Aesthetics and Cognitive Science

   Topic 1.2: Images between Aesthetics and Cognitive Science

    

   Semester 2: Space and Time between Aesthetics and Cognitive Science Topic 2.1: Temporal Experience between Aesthetics and Cognitive Science Topic 2.2: Egocentric Space between Aesthetics and Cognitive Science.

    

   The following international scholars have already expressed their interest in presenting their work in our proposed series of events:

   Catharine Abell (Manchester), Jean-Julien Aucouturier (CNRS, IRCAM), Katerina Bantinaki (Crete), Sue Denham (Plymouth), John Kulvicki (Dartmouth), Robin Le Poidevin (Leeds), Clare Mac Cumhaill (Durham), Margaret Moore (Tennessee Knoxville), Isabelle Peretz (Montréal), Catherine Stevens (Western Sidney), William Forde “Bill” Thompson (Macquarie), Daniel Västfjäll (Linköping), and John Zeimbekis (Patras).

    

   Note that, in addition to invited speakers, we will also leave some free slots to be filled via a call for papers. We are also committed to ensuring a fair distribution of speakers with respect to historically under-represented groups in both philosophy and cognitive science.

    

   The project’s deliverables will be:

   The creation of an international network of experts from several different universities and different disciplines.

    

   The publication of a volume, provisionally entitled Aesthetics and Cognitive Science: Towards a reciprocal enrichment, with selected contributions from the speakers of the talks and workshop.

    

   The publication of an interactive website, “Aesthetics and Cognitive Science”, which will present the project and its development, providing a worldwide reference-point for studies on this topic. The website will also host podcasts from the talks and the workshop, as well as interviews with eminent philosophers and cognitive scientists.

   Bibliography