|
|
 |
|
| Semir Zeki |
 |
Wellcome Department of Neurobiology, University College London, UK
|
Presentation: |
| 2002-10-10, 16:00-16:45 |
|
| Abstraction and concept formation in art and in the brain. |
|
|
One of the primordial functions of the brain is the acquisition of knowledge. A key feature of an efficient knowledge-acquiring system is the capacity to abstract from the experience of many particulars, so that the brain is no longer dependent on the particular. Abstraction leads naturally to the next step - the formation of concepts or 'ideas', which are steps in this knowledge-acquiring machinery and are mediated by neural processes of which we are unaware. There is, however, a substantial price that is exacted in return for the efficiency of the knowledge-acquiring machinery of the brain. A brain concept is constructed from experience of many particulars, but the brain's experience at any given time is that of a particular, which may not therefore satisfy the brain's concept. One refuge lies in living or reconstructing that concept in a work of art. I will illustrate this by reference to the work of three mighty figures in Western culture, drawn from literature, sculpture and music: Dante, Michelangelo, Wagner.
The work of our laboratory is supported by the Wellcome Trust, London
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
