科学、艺术和想象——论梅西的《神经系统的想象:美学与神经科学的艺术研究》

Science,Arts and Imagination——Review on Massey’s The Neural Imagination:Aesthetic and Neuroscientific Approaches to Arts

梅西从认知科学的视角,将"想象"作为科学和艺术联姻的媒介,探讨视觉艺术、听觉艺术和语言艺术中的想象机制。在他看来,认知科学只能解释"如何"会产生某种艺术效果,但却无法解释"为什么"会产生这种艺术效果。传统美学可以阐释某些心理现象以及可观察的行为,但是在潜行为层面,对作为有机体的大脑中发生的事件却无能为力。而想象作为认知科学和人文艺术的桥梁,会为两者的合作打开一扇巨大的窗户。同时也为外国文学研究增加新的研究视角。

Massey has discussed the mechanism of imagination in arts.Cognitive science can only give explanation to how the artistic effect comes about instead of why there it is as such,while traditional aesthetics can only deal with some mental phenomena and with observable behaviors,but fail to explain what goes on in the brain at the sub-behavioral level.Imagination could bridges the gap between cognitive science and humanities,and serve as an alternative approach to literature and arts studies.