Neuroaesthetics and other Workings of the Mind
David Jacques
Routledge eBooks October 22, 2026 DOI: 10.4324/9781003789765-5 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that neuroscience undermines Basic Emotions Theory and challenges assumptions in Empirical Aesthetics. Neuroaesthetics has identified brain areas involved in aesthetic activity but no dedicated aesthetic network; Alpha and Theta waves are linked to meditation, Flow Activity, and trance states, and the author proposes that the feeling of beauty can be described neurologically, including through graphs of arousal and decay. |
Abstract
Chapter 5 concerns how the brain works in a search for hints on how and why aesthetic feelings exist. This can be through evolutionary theory, which leads to the Basic Emotions Theory, nowadays discredited. More recently, neuroscience, which concerns the layout of brain regions and neural connections between them, has contributed much. Alpha and Theta waves are linked to meditation, Flow Activity and other trance states. The feeling of beauty can be described in terms of what and where it consists of neurologically, and graphs of arousal and decay plotted. A sub-field, Neuroaesthetics, looks more specifically for signs of aesthetic activity and has identified brain areas involved, though there is no dedicated network. This and other implications of neuroscience question assumptions behind both Basic Emotions Theory and Empirical Aesthetics. Another approach is through concepts of aesthetic emotions and ideas about how they arise, including the recent Theory of Constructed Emotions, and in what form they make themselves known.