Why Art?

Winfried Menninghaus develops a convincing explanation why, from what and when human arts were created.

Charles Darwin derived his model of aesthetic representation and reception from the resemblance of the song and dance of courting birds with human music making and dancing.

Winfried Menninghaus presents this approach as a significant contribution to a theory of art. The central focus of this book is the unfolding of a complex, functional theory of human art. Menninghaus does not merely explain when the practice of courting became art but also why.