A arte e a experiência estética clássica vs. contemporânea em recentes estudos das neurociências e da semiótica cognitiva: avanços e limitações

The article starts emphasizing the fact that art is universally appreciated although, paradoxically, humanities have never achieved its thorough definition and exact sciences traditionally never considered it worth of interest. It then focuses on the problematization of art’s and aesthetic experience’s evolution in terms of reception, from the second half of the 19th century on (getting more acute in contemporaneity), at the same time and paradoxically registering on the one hand art’s contemporary mythicizing and increase in popularity and on the other a new studying interest from the exact sciences – especially neurosciences. In the light of this problematization it then analyzes and compares five recent and pioneering studies from neuroscientists and cognitive semiotics theorists on art and the aesthetic experience, registering their innovative contributes for the understanding of these themes, but also their limitations and, finally, their promising character in terms of the future.