Krása - Od paleolitu ke kýči – Koukolík František (2023)

The new book by František Koukolík, Beauty, is intended for a broader audience and attempts to answer the question of why something is beautiful. The author himself admits that the publication is personal, incomplete, and certainly contains many controversial points. He has gathered the pieces that belong to its mosaic throughout his lifelong effort to understand human nature. The ability to comprehend and create beauty is part of it. Why do we like certain objects and events, why do we desire them, want to possess them, and conversely, why do we not like others? To what extent is the evaluation objective or subjective? These are age-old questions. In the text, the attentive reader will learn, for example, about aesthetic sensitivity and the relationship between beauty and truth, and may find answers to questions such as what political kitsch is, what beautiful equations activate in the brains of mathematicians, and why attractive female faces draw attention. The eternal theme is also present: is beauty also goodness? CONTENT: Foreword * 1. EVOLUTION (Model from deep evolution: plants and pollinators * Hedonic response or pleasure * Pleistocene * The oldest objects * The invention of artificial fire-making * Neanderthals * Classification of Pleistocene visual art * Pigments * Ornaments * Objects with notches * Figurines * Paintings * Three theories of the development of visual art in the Pleistocene * Sexual selection * Creation…