Denis Dutton

Denis Dutton was born in Los Angeles, California, United States, on 9 February 1944, as the second of four children of William and Thelma Dutton,{{Cite news| last = Woo| first = Elaine| title = Denis Dutton dies at 66: Founder of Arts & Letters Daily website| work = Los Angeles Times| access-date = 2012-02-27| date = 2 January 2011| url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jan-02-la-me-denis-dutton-20110102-story.html}} who were booksellers and founded what became Dutton's Books, a chain of independent bookstores. He grew up in North Hollywood, graduated from North Hollywood High School, and was educated at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1966 and his PhD in philosophy in 1975. Between taking these degrees, he went to India with the Peace Corps and learned to play sitar. Dutton taught at several American universities, including the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Michigan–Dearborn, before emigrating to New Zealand.

Dutton started teaching at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, in 1984. From 2008 to 2010, he was the Head of the Philosophy school in an unofficial capacity and acted briefly as Head of Humanities. At its December 2010 graduation ceremony, the University of Canterbury awarded Dutton a research medal for his work.{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/4463532/Renowned-academic-receives-top-honour |title=Renowned academic receives top honour |author=Matthews, Philip |date=16 December 2010 |work=The Press |access-date=27 September 2011}}

He was a member of the editorial board for The Rutherford Journal.{{cite web| title=Editorial board | url=http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/editorial.html | work=The Rutherford Journal | access-date=19 December 2016 }}

On 28 December 2010, Dutton died from cancer.{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/4498558/Professor-web-entrepreneur-Denis-Dutton-dies |title=Professor, web entrepreneur Denis Dutton dies |date=28 December 2010 |work=The Press |access-date=27 September 2011}}{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12088898 | publisher=BBC News | title=Arts author Denis Dutton dies aged 66 | date=29 December 2010}}

{{main|Arts & Letters Daily}}

Dutton was best known for the web aggregation site Arts & Letters Daily, which he founded in 1998 and which secured him a place among "the most influential media personalities in the world".{{Cite magazine| last = Grossman| first = Lev| title = Meet Joe Blog| magazine = Time| date = 13 June 2004| url = http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,650732,00.html| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130204103015/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,650732,00.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = 4 February 2013}} The site, described as "the first and foremost aggregator of well-written and well-argued book reviews, essays, and other articles in the realm of ideas",{{cite magazine|date=28 December 2010|title=Denis Dutton|first=Blake|last=Eskin|url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/postscript/2.html#entry-2000000001114450|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130208164024/http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/postscript/2.html%23entry-2000000001114450|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 February 2013|magazine=The New Yorker}} features links to articles across the web about literature, art, science, and politics, for which Dutton wrote pithy teasers. In recognition of Arts & Letters Daily, Steven Pinker called Dutton a visionary for recognizing that a website "could be a forum for cutting-edge ideas, not just a way to sell things or entertain the bored".

Dutton served as executive director of Cybereditions, a print on demand publishing company he founded in 2000{{Cite news| last = Boynton| first = Robert S.| title = Hoping Web Success Strikes Twice| work = The New York Times| location = New York| date = 11 November 2000| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/11/arts/hoping-web-success-strikes-twice.html}} which specializes in new and out-of-print copyright works, mostly of a scholarly nature. The editorial board of the company has included other academics such as Frederick Crews, Anthony Grafton and Marjorie Perloff.{{cite news | title=Reading between the dots|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=3 March 2001 |first=Andrew |last=Riemer|page=8}}

Dutton wrote on authenticity in art and distinguished between nominal authenticity, in which a work of art is correctly attributed to its author rather than being a forgery, and expressive authenticity, where a work is a true expression of an individual's or a society's values and beliefs.{{cite journal |title=Authenticity in Art |url=http://www.denisdutton.com/authenticity.htm |journal=The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics |editor=Jerrold Levinson |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |author=Denis Dutton |access-date=31 March 2011 |archive-date=7 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110107125522/http://denisdutton.com/authenticity.htm |url-status=dead }}

In his book The Art Instinct (2010){{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-1-60819-055-3| last = Dutton| first = Denis| title = The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution| location = Oxford| year = 2010}} Dutton opposes the view that art appreciation is culturally learned, claiming instead that art appreciation stems from evolutionary adaptions made during the Pleistocene.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/books/review/Gottlieb-t.html?ref=books | work=The New York Times | title=The Descent of Taste | first=Anthony | last=Gottlieb | date=1 February 2009 | access-date=2010-05-01}} He set out abbreviated versions of his theory in a 2009 Google Talk lecture{{cite video | people=Denis Dutton | year=2009 | title =Authors@Google: Denis Dutton |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Di86RqDL4| via = YouTube | location = Mountain View, CA | access-date = 27 February 2012}} and a 2010 TED talk.{{Cite video | publisher = Video on TED.com | people = Dutton, Denis (Contributor) | title = Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty | series = TED | access-date = 2012-03-12 | date = February 2010 | url = http://www.ted.com/talks/denis_dutton_a_darwinian_theory_of_beauty.html | archive-date = 11 February 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140211012601/http://www.ted.com/talks/denis_dutton_a_darwinian_theory_of_beauty.html | url-status = dead }}

Dutton also argued that progress in the arts and sciences had declined, especially since around 1800.{{cite web|url=http://denisdutton.com/murray_review.htm|title=Of Human Accomplishment|first=Denis|last=Dutton|work=Denisdutton.com|access-date=5 May 2011|archive-date=16 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716183706/http://denisdutton.com/murray_review.htm|url-status=dead}}

As editor of the journal Philosophy and Literature, Dutton ran the Bad Writing Contest, which aimed to "expose 'pretentious, swaggering gibberish' passed off as scholarship at leading universities". In 1995, the contest was won by Homi K. Bhabha and Fredric Jameson.{{Cite web | last = Dutton | first = Denis | title = The Bad Writing Contest: Press Releases, 1996–1998 | work = DenisDutton.com | access-date = 2010-10-30 | year = 1998 | url = http://denisdutton.com/bad_writing.htm | archive-date = 4 March 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304022732/http://denisdutton.com/bad_writing.htm | url-status = dead }} In 1998, the contest awarded first place to philosopher and University of California-Berkeley Professor Judith Butler, for a sentence which appeared in the journal diacritics.{{Cite news | last = Dutton | first = Denis | title = Language Crimes: A Lesson in How Not to Write, Courtesy of the Professoriate | work = The Wall Street Journal | access-date = 2010-10-30 | date = 5 February 1999 | url = http://www.denisdutton.com/language_crimes.htm | archive-date = 25 January 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110125094335/http://www.denisdutton.com/language_crimes.htm | url-status = dead }} Butler defended their work against the charges of academic pedantry and obscurantism in the pages of The New York Times.{{Cite news | last = Butler | first = Judith | title = A 'Bad Writer' Bites Back | work = The New York Times | access-date = 2010-10-30 | date = 20 March 1999 | url = https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/wash/www/butler.htm | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111008194554/https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/wash/www/butler.htm | archive-date = 8 October 2011 }} Dutton then ended the contest.

The Bad Writing Contest emerged in an intellectual climate dominated by the fallout from the Sokal affair,{{cite news|work=The Washington Times|date=13 March 1999| title=Pomobabble rooted in ivy|first=John|last=Leo|page=C1}}{{cite news|

newspaper=The Irish Times| date=8 April 1999|title=Bad blood over bad writing: Critics say US academic language has become so convoluted that it is largely incomprehensible to the point where argument is becoming impossible| first=Richard|last=Kelly|page=15}} in which the alleged opaqueness and obscurity of postmodern writing came in for criticism: Edward Said, for instance, deplored "diminishment and incoherence" in the writings of some of his colleagues and Martha Nussbaum condemned academic writing that was "ponderous and obscure".{{cite news|work=The New York Times| date=27 February 1999| title=When Ideas Get Lost in Bad Writing: Attacks on scholars include a barbed contest with 'prizes'| first=Dinitia|last=Smith|page=B9|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/27/arts/when-ideas-get-lost-bad-writing-attacks-scholars-include-barbed-contest-with.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm}}

Dutton supported "conservative ideas"{{cite news|title=Vale Denis Dutton: A professor of philosophy who civilized the Internet|first=Hal G.P.|last=Colebatch|date=30 December 2010|work=American Spectator|url=http://spectator.org/archives/2010/12/30/vale-denis-dutton|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118092733/http://spectator.org/archives/2010/12/30/vale-denis-dutton|archive-date=18 November 2011}} and was a member of the Libertarian Party for some years.

Dutton was one of the founding members and first chair of the NZ Skeptics. In 2009, he stated that he believed that "climate change is still an open question".{{cite news|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/lifestyle/248382/And-in-this-corner|title=And in this corner...|work=The Press |date=2 January 2008}}

He was also a passionate supporter of public radio. In the early 1990s, he founded the lobby group The New Zealand Friends of Public Broadcasting in response to proposals to devolve New Zealand's two non-commercial public radio stations.{{cite web|url=http://www.nzine.co.nz/features/broadcasting.html|title=NZine: Public broadcasting – Not everyone is apathetic|date=18 July 1998|access-date=2008-03-27|archive-date=25 November 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125073819/http://www.nzine.co.nz/features/broadcasting.html|url-status=dead}}

In 1995 he was appointed to the board of directors of Radio New Zealand, where he served for seven years.{{cite web|url=http://www.beehive.govt.nz/node/12965|title=Board appointments for NZOA and RNZ|date=4 February 2002|author=Marion Hobbs, MP|publisher=New Zealand Government|access-date=2008-03-26}} After concluding his term as a director, Dr. Dutton and Dr. John Isles issued a report criticising Radio New Zealand for loss of neutrality in news and current affairs, failure to adhere to charter and opposed to contestable funding of broadcasting.{{Cite web|url=http://www.parliament.nz/mi-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/6/5/4/47HansD_20040331_00001531-Radio-New-Zealand-Amendment-Bill-In-Committee.htm |author=Coddington, Deborah M.P. |title=Parliamentary debate: 3rd reading of Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill |date=30 March 2004 |access-date=2008-03-27 |work=Hansard }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

Dutton's publications include:

• {{cite book

|title=Art and anthropology: aspects of criticism and the social studies

|author=Denis Laurence Dutton

|publisher=University of California, Santa Barbara |year=1974}}

• {{cite book

|title=The Forger's art: forgery and the philosophy of art

|author=Denis Dutton

|publisher=University of California Press |year=1983

|isbn=0-520-04341-3}}

• {{cite book

|title=The Concept of creativity in science and art

|author1=Denis Dutton |author2=Michael Krausz |publisher=M. Nijhoff |year=1985

|isbn=90-247-3127-5}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Authenticity in Art

|url=http://www.denisdutton.com/authenticity.htm

|journal=The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics

|editor=Jerrold Levinson

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|year=2003

|author=Denis Dutton

|access-date=31 March 2011

|archive-date=7 January 2011

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110107125522/http://denisdutton.com/authenticity.htm

|url-status=dead

}}

• {{cite book

|title=In Praise of Elitism

|author1=Charles A. Murray |author2=Denis Dutton |author3=Claire Fox |publisher=Centre for Independent Studies, The |year=2008

|isbn=978-1-86432-166-1}}

• {{cite book

|title=The art instinct: beauty, pleasure, & human evolution

|author=Denis Dutton

|publisher=Oxford University Press US |year=2009

|isbn=978-0-19-953942-0}}

• {{cite book

|title=The idea of creativity

|author1=Michael Krausz |author2=Denis Dutton |author3=Karen Bardsley |publisher=Brill |year=2009

|isbn=978-90-04-17444-3}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons}}

{{wikiquote}}

• [http://www.aldaily.com Arts & Letters Daily]
• [http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17452 Video (and audio) of interview/conversation with Dutton] and John Horgan on Bloggingheads.tv
• [http://www.hwwilson.com/Currentbio/cover_bios/cover_bio_8_09.htm Current Biography cover story on Dutton]
• [http://colinmarshall.libsyn.com/arts_letters_daily_s_denis_dutton An interview about Arts & Letters Daily] on The Marketplace of Ideas
• [http://colinmarshall.libsyn.com/denis_dutton_on_aesthetics_and_evolution An interview about The Art Instinct] on The Marketplace of Ideas
• {{TED speaker}}
• [http://www.ted.com/talks/denis_dutton_a_darwinian_theory_of_beauty Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty (TED2010)]

{{Evolutionary psychologists}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutton, Denis}}

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Category:American philosophers of art

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Category:University of Michigan–Dearborn people

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Category:North Hollywood High School alumni