The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.

Mind, Brain, and Education

Volume 5, Issue 1

The Challenges of Interdisciplinary Epistemology in Neuroaesthetics

James Croft

Corresponding Author

Harvard Graduate School of Education

James Croft, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Longfellow Hall, Room 331, Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138; e‐mail:

jflcroft@gmail.com

.
Search for more papers by this author
First published: 21 February 2011
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-228X.2011.01103.x
Cited by: 6

Abstract

Neuroaesthetics is a burgeoning new interdisciplinary research space in which cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy intersect in order to better inform our understanding of aesthetic experience. The purpose of this study is to analyze high‐profile work in neuroaesthetics in the light of recent research into interdisciplinary epistemology, asking “Do current attempts to use neuroscience to explore art meet rigorous interdisciplinary quality criteria?” I suggest that current approaches in neuroaesthetics frequently fail in a number of ways: they fail to meet disciplinary standards in either aesthetics or neuroscience, they fail to blend disciplines in a generative way, and they add little new that could not be investigated more fruitfully at other levels of analysis. In response to these potential pitfalls, I recommend that future researchers embrace a form of “problem‐focused epistemological pluralism” in their neuroaesthetic endeavors. I end with a consideration of the educational implications of these issues.

Number of times cited: 6

  • Anjan Chatterjee and Oshin Vartanian, Neuroscience of aesthetics, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1369, 1, (172-194), (2016).
    Wiley Online Library
  • Christina Wu, Exploring Poetry with Cognitive Neuroscience: T.S. Eliot's ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 41, 4, (351), (2016).
    Crossref
  • Elisabeth Osgood-Campbell, Investigating the Educational Implications of Embodied Cognition: A Model Interdisciplinary Inquiry in Mind, Brain, and Education Curricula, Mind, Brain, and Education, 9, 1, (3), (2015).
    Crossref
  • Michael Burke, The neuroaesthetics of prose fiction: pitfalls, parameters and prospects, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, (2015).
    Crossref
  • Anjan Chatterjee and Oshin Vartanian, Neuroaesthetics, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18, 7, (370), (2014).
    Crossref
  • Konečni, Empirical Psycho-Aesthetics and Her Sisters: Substantive and Methodological Issues—Part I, The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 46, 4, (1), (2012).
    Crossref