Evolution and the arts

Evolution is on shaky ground in trying to say anything profound about music, dance, literature, theater, painting, sculpture and the like.

Most "primitive" cultures dance and sing and tell stories. One function of this may be to impress members of the opposite sex. Many other species have elaborate courtship displays. The exact form is essentially arbitrary, though they likely require physical attributes like strength, endurance, and fine motor control. By excelling at such a display, a potential mate shows good health and good genes. Dancing, singing and story-telling may serve that function among humans.

But why do we find some things beautiful and profound, others ugly or dull? Evolution shaped our cognitive machinery for adaptive purposes -- leaving more descendants. Scientists' best guess is that our sense of the beautiful and profound is a side effect of that cognitive machinery. It's a good guess that things most humans agree are beautiful or profound have those properties only through a human lens. Intelligent aliens arriving from another planet would be unlikely to find our arts very appealing since they would have evolved different nervous systems and cognitive abilities. One exception might be mathematical truths, as they are independent of the particulars of a given organism or environment. Prime numbers, golden ratios, and Fibonacci sequences might appeal to all intelligent beings.

Of course human culture is extraordinarily complex. Evolution can't come close to explaining anything but a tiny fraction of that complexity. But then -- neither can anything else. A belief in God certainly can't. It remains a mystery.