Denis Dutton

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Denis Dutton (2010)

Denis Dutton (born February 9, 1944 in Los Angeles , California , † December 28, 2010 in Christchurch , New Zealand ) was an American author , internet entrepreneur , professor of philosophy at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch and libertarian activist .

Life

Dutton was from Los Angeles, where his parents ran a bookstore, and received his science education from the University of California, Santa Barbara . First he began studying chemistry and then switched to philosophy. After graduating in 1966, he worked for the Peace Corps in India for two years . Then he took up the study again, first at New York University, then again at the University of California at Santa Barbara, which he completed in 1973 with his doctoral thesis. After teaching at several universities, including the University of Michigan in Dearborn, he emigrated to New Zealand, co-founded New Zealand Skeptics in 1986 and was director of the philosophy department at Canterbury University from 2008 to 2010, where he has taught since 1984.

plant

The theory of evolutionary aesthetics (Darwinian aesthetics) presented by Dutton in his book The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution in 2009 rejected the dominant, modern position that cultural factors dominate and focused on evolutionary adaptation processes in the Pleistocene .

In addition, as editor-in-chief of the journal Philosophy and Literature , the philosopher was committed to a generally accessible language in cultural studies and criticized the complex writing styles of many prominent actors, among others. a. Judith Butler and Homi K. Bhabha , sharp.

In terms of media policy, he campaigned for public radio and was a member of the board of Radio New Zealand from 1995 to 2002 , which he criticized for its lack of neutrality after the end of his time as director. Dutton was co-founder and operator of the websites Arts & Letters Daily, ClimateDebateDaily.com and cybereditions.com. Arts & Letters Daily received high praise in the London Observer shortly after its publication in 1998 and, due to the variety of topics, despite its rather unorthox structure, achieved more than 3 million page impressions per month after two changes of operator after about 10 years. In 2002 he was awarded the People's voice Webby Award for this.

He died of complications from cancer.

Works (selection)

  • The Art Instinct. Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution . Bloomsbury Press, New York 2009, ISBN 978-1-59691-401-8 .
  • Criticism and Method . In The British Journal of Aesthetics , Vol. 8 (1973), pp. 232-42, ISSN  0007-0904 .
  • Tribal Art and Artifact . In The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism , Vol. 51 (1993), pp. 13-21, ISSN  0021-8529 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dmitry Kiper: Current Biography cover story on Dutton ( Memento from June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), on hwwilson.com (English)
  2. ↑ nytimes.com: Book review by Anthony Gottlieb from January 29, 2009. Accessed: December 28, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Dutton, Denis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author, internet entrepreneur, and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California, United States
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 2010
Place of death Christchurch , New Zealand