Editing Denis Dutton (section)

==Aesthetics==
Dutton wrote on [[authenticity in art]] and distinguished between ''nominal authenticity'', in which a work of art is correctly attributed to its author rather than being a forgery, and ''expressive authenticity'', where a work is a true expression of an individual's or a society's values and beliefs.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Authenticity in Art |url=http://www.denisdutton.com/authenticity.htm |journal=The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics |editor=Jerrold Levinson |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |author=Denis Dutton |access-date=31 March 2011 |archive-date=7 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110107125522/http://denisdutton.com/authenticity.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In his book ''The Art Instinct'' (2010)<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-1-60819-055-3| last = Dutton| first = Denis| title = The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution| location = Oxford| year = 2010}}</ref> Dutton opposes the view that art appreciation is culturally learned, claiming instead that art appreciation stems from evolutionary adaptions made during the [[Pleistocene]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/books/review/Gottlieb-t.html?ref=books | work=The New York Times | title=The Descent of Taste | first=Anthony | last=Gottlieb | date=1 February 2009 | access-date=2010-05-01}}</ref> He set out abbreviated versions of his theory in a 2009 [[Google Videos|Google Talk]] lecture<ref>{{cite video | people=Denis Dutton | year=2009 | title =Authors@Google: Denis Dutton |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Di86RqDL4| via = YouTube | location = Mountain View, CA | access-date = 27 February 2012}}</ref> and a 2010 [[TED (conference)|TED talk]].<ref name=ted>{{Cite video | publisher = Video on TED.com | people = Dutton, Denis (Contributor) | title = Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty | series = TED | access-date = 2012-03-12 | date = February 2010 | url = http://www.ted.com/talks/denis_dutton_a_darwinian_theory_of_beauty.html | archive-date = 11 February 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140211012601/http://www.ted.com/talks/denis_dutton_a_darwinian_theory_of_beauty.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Dutton also argued that progress in the arts and sciences had declined, especially since around 1800.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://denisdutton.com/murray_review.htm|title=Of Human Accomplishment|first=Denis|last=Dutton|work=Denisdutton.com|access-date=5 May 2011|archive-date=16 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716183706/http://denisdutton.com/murray_review.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>