The Art Instinct attempts to be nothing more than a complete explanation (in Darwinian terms) of how and why our human tendency to create art came to be. In this massive undertaking, New Zealand professor of Philosophy of Art Denis Dutton succeeds admirably.

It’s perhaps a bit peculiar to think that the human tendency to create art, universally expressed across all cultures, has not really been viewed as an evolved trait until now. As Dutton explains, the realm of art has been firmly in the grip of art critics, philosophers, professional aesthetes and social constructivists – those who would explain the art instinct in any terms other than biological. But Dutton’s thesis is that, viewed through a Darwinian lens, the art instinct makes perfect sense as just that – an instinct, an evolved trait, which has come about through Darwinian means.

It’s a view that is likely to piss off no small amount of social constructivist types, and I wish more power to Dutton for that reason alone. But there’s no doubt that from my layman’s perspective, Dutton has some powerful arguments. He begins by walking us through the universal human preference for what critics dub “calendar” art – landscapes featuring paths, forest and grassland vistas, fresh water and shelter – as an evolved trait, something our ancestors would have envisaged as a perfect landscape for their survival. This is just the beginning, as over the course of the book he manages to tackle practically every question of art philosophy you could reasonably think of. Dutton’s writing is refreshingly fresh and clear, as are his ideas. As someone who has to deal with the drudgery of sifting through layers of postmodern drek-laden texts in an effort to find actual thought on a regular basis, this was incredibly welcome. Finally, an academic who can write without resorting to pomposity and jargon. It proves something I’ve held for a long time, which is that complex ideas need not be difficult to understand, so long as they’re rendered properly.

It’s a wonderful read for the layman and academic alike, but I recommend it specifically to Arts undergrads as something with which to battle the endless bullshit endemic to their chosen degree, and to postgrads and professors who’d like their worldview shaken up a bit.