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Integrating holism and reductionism in the science of art perception

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2013

Daniel J. Graham
Daniel J. Graham*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology, Department of Psychological Basic Research, University of Vienna, Vienna 1010, Austria; Department of Psychology, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY 14456. artstats@gmail.comhttp://homepage.univie.ac.at/daniel.graham/
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Abstract

The contextualist claim that universalism is irrelevant to the proper study of art can be evaluated by examining an analogous question in neuroscience. Taking the reductionist-holist debate in visual neuroscience as a model, we see that the analog of orthodox contextualism is untenable, whereas integrated approaches have proven highly effective. Given the connection between art and vision, unified approaches are likewise more germane to the scientific study of art.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , April 2013 , pp. 145 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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