<div dir="ltr"><div><div style="font-size:large" class="gmail_default">Hi László,</div><div style="font-size:large" class="gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-size:large" class="gmail_default">From your introductory post, and the longer paper's abstract it is not clear what we are being asked to consider in your talk. I thought the 'whole matter' of art, etc. was a wholly settled matter, often framed as the 'Upper Paleolithic Revolution' (but at times called various names). The advent of cave paintings, etc. was seen as clear evidence for a human capacity for abstraction and abstract thought, first arising somewhere between 300KYA (first modern humans) and 50KYA (early evident artifacts).</div><div style="font-size:large" class="gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-size:large" class="gmail_default">What exactly are we considering in your talk?</div><div style="font-size:large" class="gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-size:large" class="gmail_default">Thank you,</div><br clear="all"></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Marcus Abundis<br><a href="mailto:55mrcs@gmail.com" target="_blank">55mrcs@gmail.com</a> (best)<br>+41 62 844 2193 home (2nd best)<div>+41 77 465 8977 (cell)</div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Jan 9, 2026 at 9:35 PM Csáji László Koppány <<a href="mailto:csaji.koppany@gmail.com" target="_blank">csaji.koppany@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Dear FIS Colleagues,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">This is rather a starting point of a conversation than
a report of research results; a call to think together and share our thoughts
and knowledge. The question in this kick-off text is very simple: Is art a
human ability? As a social and cultural anthropologist, I conducted fieldworks in Asia, Africa, and Europe over the last few decades. Art
penetrates our everyday life and rituals; just think of the built environment,
music, design, literature, fine arts, vernacular arts, etc. I have recently
published a paper that addresses art(s), aiming to develop a new definition
from the perspective of cognitive sciences (see: </span><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.mdpi.com/3042-8084/2/1/1__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Xrv66q4RXEKv2pWONoI8np-mus_kNGSc3EjXMgbnMskwKkNrkjmE_CkucMR_l-mR9kB5LSEAvPHhwXtKfFcx6TrO8g$" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Toward a Multidimensional Definition of Art from the Perspective of Cognitive
Sciences | MDPI</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">). My attached
kick-off text largely relies on this long paper. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Numerous attempts to define art have been made from
antiquity to the present, yet historical overviews often adopt a Eurocentric
(and American-centric) perspective focused mainly on culturally dependent aesthetic
approaches. As a universal social and cultural phenomenon, art resists
center-periphery models. Art is not merely
a unique representation of reality, but also an ability to create new realities
and thereby shape society. Art has attracted and accompanied people from the
dawn of history. Some argue that acquiring the ability to create and appreciate
art was one of the few important steps in the process of becoming Homo Sapiens. Thus, it is a universal
phenomenon that spans ages and cultures—arising from something fundamentally
human.
However, is it really fundamentally
human? What gives its "merely" human factor? Do our experiences (image) on AI development </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:12pt">and its </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:12pt">social functions support this idea? Ethologists, cognitive scientists, and
psychologists often over-emphasize one element (e.g., visual
symmetry-asymmetry, </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:16px">harmony, beauty, etc.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:12pt">) of art(s) that seems suitable for their research methods.
This seems a pragmatic and reasonable solution, but it easily obscures the “big
picture” and the core of the problem. Thus, it remains a question how art can
be considered as a human activity. Consequently, artists and scholars have been
preoccupied since ancient times with the question of what art is, or how
certain prominent forms of art (visual arts, drama, music, literature, etc.)
work. Nevertheless, the abstract concept of art is not expressed by a notion
(word) in every culture. There are significant differences in the use of the
words linked to art. Moreover, the meaning of art has changed continuously and
significantly over time, albeit at different rates.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0cm;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The cognitive turn reshaped art
theory by reconsidering art as a cognitive dimension of humanity. Art has no
limits on who can create or enjoy it. The ability to use and understand
metaphor, for instance, demonstrates everyday human artistic cognition. I introduced a simple vectorial model t</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34)">hat </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:12pt">aligns closely with the idea
of family resemblance in the sense that cognitive semantics conceives it as a
kind of categorization (meaning construction). T</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34)">his a 3D model rat</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34)">her t</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34)">han a simple definition. </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:12pt">Since art lacks a single,
definitive prototype, no strict, universal definition can capture all its forms
in a yes or no spectrum. My filed studies s</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34)">howed me </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:12pt">the variability of
artistic practices (in craft, value, range of affect, etc.) that can be placed
in different ways within a space (and not a category) of art. In this model,
three coordinates form a space. These vectors (coordinates) are equally
relevant cognitive aspects: 1. Creativity, 2. Communication, 3. Experience. For
further, detailed argumentation see the attached file. </span></p><p style="margin:0cm;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:12pt">Dear FIS members, dear colleagues in different scientific disciplines! Do you agree or disagree that
art is a human ability? If yes or no: what kind of evidence can we set up for
the argumentation? </span></p><p style="margin:0cm;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><br></span></p><p style="margin:0cm;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt;color:black"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span style="font-size:16px">Best regards,</span></font></p><p style="margin:0cm;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt;color:black"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span style="font-size:16px"> László Koppány Csáji</span></font></p><p style="margin:0cm;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt;color:black"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span style="font-size:16px"><br></span></font></p><p style="margin:0cm;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt;color:black"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span style="font-size:16px">P.s. See t</span></font><span lang="EN-US" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">he attac</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34)">hed file for furt</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34)">her details and argumentation</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:12pt"> </span></p></div>
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