REFLECTIONS ON AESTHETICS AND EVOLUTION

Experimental research with human infants has demonstrated a level of s ensitivity to music comparable to that of musically unsophisticated ad ults. This evidence points to the biologically hard-wired nature of mu sical responsivity, and further raises the question of the evolutionar y roots of the phenomenon. The question is addressed by examining (1) tile ontogenetic and phylogenetic order in which speech and music are acquired, (2) tile possible adaptive properties of music and dance, an d (3) cognitive evolutionary retrodictions about the period in prehist ory when art began. Much uncertainty continues to surround these issue s, but there is a strong indication that the performing and visual art s are natural phenomena with distinctively different evolutionary root s.