Mariagrazia Portera - "Does the beauty only exists in the eyes of the observer?"
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Mariagrazia Portera, photo taken from the website.
Mariagrazia Portera is a NEWFELPRO fellow from incoming scheme who did her project at the Centre for Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb. She holds a PhD in Philosophy (Aesthetics) from the University of Florence. Her research interests are aesthetics, history of aesthetics, evolutionary biology. She has published papers and book chapters on the evolutionary origin of the human aesthetic attitude, on the origin of the arts, on the epistemology and research methodology of evolutionary aesthetics. She has spent several research stays in European Universities, such as in Berlin, London, Vienna, Stuttgart, Freiburg and Bremen.
Her NEWFELPRO project is called „Evolutionary Aesthetics. A Bridging Discipline Between Humanities and Natural Sciences (Evo_Bridge)“. Her main question in this project were:
Her NEWFELPRO project is called „Evolutionary Aesthetics. A Bridging Discipline Between Humanities and Natural Sciences (Evo_Bridge)“. Her main question in this project were:
- What are the benefits of adopting an evolutionary approach in Aesthetics?
- How and to what extent can Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution shed light on our capacity to make aesthetic judgments, appreciate aesthetically the world and produce artworks?
- What wouldexplanatorily fruitful Evolutionary Aesthetics look like?
Working on the boundary between the humanities and the natural sciences, the research provideS arguments in favour of the adoption of an evolutionary viewpoint in Aesthetics, outlineS an explanatorily fruitful model of Evolutionary Aesthetics (alternative to the current one) and formulateS a set of hypotheses about the origin of human aesthetic attitude from nonhuman natural precursors. The project contributes to a redefinition of Aesthetics as a philosophical discipline, thanks to an innovative interdisciplinary research methodology and the constant dialogue with the natural sciences.
During her fellowship she has prepared following papers:
During her fellowship she has prepared following papers:
- „Why do human perceptions of beauty change? The construction of the aestetic niche“ in „Molding the planet: human niche construction of work“ edited by Maurits W. Ertsen, Christof Mauch and Edmund Russell, RCC Perspectives: Transformations in environment and society 2016, no. 5, 41-47.
- „Aesthetic niche construction: a two way process between the human mind and environment“ – in the process of submitting
- „Evolutionary convergences: the aestetic at the crossroads between philosophy and biology“ – in the process of submitting
Also, she attended lots of scientific events during her NEWFELPRO fellowship, where she actively diseminated her project results. Some of those activities are listed below:
- Lecture Beyond nature/culture dichotomy : niche construction theory in the frame of Prof. Tomislav Bracanović˙s courses on Theories of Human Nature.
- Two-day seminar held with Prof. Christoph Wulf (University of Berlin, Germany), Prof. Danijel Labaš, Prof. Filip Grgić and dr. Martino Rossi Monti – themes: Cultural learning as mimetic learning, The quest for the human being. Antropology in the globalized world - at the Centre for Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb and at the Institute of Philosophy (5/2017)
- Presentation of the paper (co-authored with Mauro Mandrioli, Universitry of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy): The Aestethics Legacy: Epigenetics as a Bridge between Genes and Cuture? at the Annual Conference of the International Association of Empirical Aestetics, University of Vienna , Austria (2.9.2016.)
- Lecture The evolution of beauty in the frame of series of public lectures organized by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (10/2016)
- Seminar Evolutionary Aestetics, The evolution of the aestetics sense from Charles Darwin to the contemporary debate, University Bremen, Department of Philosophy (11/2016)
- Lecture A new look into evolutionary aestetics: the role of individual behaviour in the aestetic experience, University pf Bremen, Department of Philosophy (11/2016)
- International conferennce The pragmatist turn and embodied cognition: habit and experience at the crossroads between pragmatism, neneurosciencees and social ontology, University of Parma, Italy (5-7.4.2017.) – presentation of the talk: Aestetic habits and aestetic experience: an evolutionary view – together with Professor Mauro Mandrioli.
- Submission of an abstract on Aestetic niche construction: a two way process between the human mind and the environment for the International Conference From the aestetic mind to the symbolic mind . Perceptual dynamics, mimetic practices , human theatricality“– University of Florence, Italy (26.-28.10.2017.)
- Short talk on Evolutionary aesthetics presented at the Conference „20 years of MSCA in Croatia and future perspectives for researchers` mobility“
Her long – term carrier goal is to get a position as an academic researcher in Universities in Italy or abroad (in Europe). She has applied for further European funds to support her research and she is currently working on a new research project.