Czy zwierzę może być dziełem sztuki. Kilka refleksji na marginesie książki Jerzego Lutego „Sztuka jako adaptacja”

Art as Adaptation [published in Polish as Sztuka jako adaptacja], a book by Jerzy Luty, provokes one to seek the roots of art not only in cultural processes but also in biological (evolutionary) processes. The consequences of this evolutionistic perspective render the question whether other species, apart from human beings, create art, and if so, how it manifests itself valid. In this paper, I emphasise that if we recognise art as the effect of evolutionary processes, we should also face the fact that at least some species of animals should be treated as authors or creators to some degree. What is more, we should recognise that these animals themselves are works of art. To justify this thesis, naturalists point to birds. The recognition that animals can create art implies another question, namely, whether they have an aesthetic sense. Finally, there is one more question that needs to be reflected upon, which is whether nature itself is beautiful (ugly), or aesthetically neutral, analogous to the question of whether it is good or bad. The latter question is ontological.