# Political Compass #47: Businessmen are more important than writers and artists. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 17, 2005, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174 "2005-01-17T10:11:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/21 "2005-01-18T15:25:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Society needs both, and there is no reason they can’t co-exist. The proposition does not say otherwise, **Demorian** - it merely asks us to rank their relative importance. And please do not use these threads to take a pop at **Brutus** , no matter _how_ mild. I have specifically invited his valuable participation here since he is so _far away_ from any other Doper (even fellow US Conservatives) on the Compass, and the propositions get at the real meat behind each political position without the inane partisan sniping. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/22 "2005-01-18T15:29:05Z")
> [@MGibson](#): > > Don’t go thinking that those of us who think the merchant and the manufacturer are more important also hold no value for the artist. Indeed my life is enriched because of movies, television, books, and music. However none of those things are possible without the merchant and the manufacturer. Is this true? Did Emily Dickenson rely on merchants and manufacturers? What about self-sustaining Amish communities where they also craft various items for artistic or aesthetic purposes? Aside from a general “no man is an island” kind of vibe, I’m not sure it is fair to say artists rely on businessmen and merchants. After all, those businessmen and merchants rely on someone as well. Often a designer whose spark of creativity inspired the product they are buying and selling. I’m with **John Mace** on this one. There has always been art in many forms in every culture we have ever encountered. If every single culture has made room for it, and has done so for their entire history as far as we can determine, then it would meet my definition of “necessary.” There is evidence beyond the anthropological as well. Turning an eye to physiology, the human brain seems intrinsically wired for aesthetic pursuits as much as more substantial ones(right-brain left-brain was an early description of this behavior). Desire to express aesthetic ideas probably gave rise to language(the single defining innovation in human history) as much as the necessities of being able to communicate for more basic reasons(food, shelter, etc.). I don’t think a society is complete without the artistic sphere. I would disagree with this proposition. IIRC I was somewhere around the -2, -5 mark. Not far from the Dali Llama. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/23 "2005-01-18T15:29:33Z")
Economic Left/Right: -0.12 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.46 Ticks _Strongly Disagree_ I come at this from a rather different perspective. I see that it is beauty that provides the meaning and drive to a society. When I walk into the door of a business I see that the business has filled its hallways and conference rooms with the work of the artist, even to the point of having an artist beautify the direct work of the business. It is exactly the point that we work as a society to allow the artist to concentrate solely on creating beauty, which makes the artist more important than the business man or the manufacturer. Would we work as hard, for as long, to provide the world with widgets and gadgets, if the end results was just more widgets and gadgets; or is it that we work to provide more widgets and gadgets so that other people can be devoted to creating things of beauty? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/24 "2005-01-18T16:59:15Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > Could it not be said that that abstract, innovative art and its innovative thought processes _preceded_ the subsequent developments, which simply followed as mechanically as a termite? That dedicated, full-time businessmen and manufacturers are only possible because of art and writing? Probably not. We have evidence of abstract thinking in the form of stone tools dating back to before the earliest evidence of any art produced by man. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/25 "2005-01-18T17:18:40Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > Is this true? Did Emily Dickenson rely on merchants and manufacturers? What about self-sustaining Amish communities where they also craft various items for artistic or aesthetic purposes? Yes. Unless Dickenson was the one who created her own ink, paper, and pens and let’s not forget the clothing she wore, the house she lived in, and the food she ate. Even Amish communities rely on manufacturers to sustain their economy and many of them have merchants that deal with other Amish or even the outside world. > [@](#): > > I’m with **John Mace** on this one. There has always been art in many forms in every culture we have ever encountered. If every single culture has made room for it, and has done so for their entire history as far as we can determine, then it would meet my definition of “necessary.” The question is not whether art is necessary or not. The question is “what is more important?” Certainly, art has existed throughout the course of modern man. However literature, motion pictures, architecture, and sculptures all rely on a network of merchants and manufacturers to exist. Marc ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/26 "2005-01-18T18:32:15Z")
Apples to oranges…both are important. I think in todays society businessmen are more important than writers and artists, but I think over all in human history and human basic nature, artists and writers (or bards or storytellers) are actually more important. So, I’ll say I disagree weakly on this one. -XT ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/27 "2005-01-18T18:46:13Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > Yes, that’s the way that I read it. Or maybe more accurately: “Those who do work are more important than those who entertain.” And people in the entertainment business don’t work at their entertaining skills? I routinely put in five-hour sittings working on my writing, and I’d like to think I’m working as hard as someone filing reports. Though I suppose if people can get artistic satisfaction out of the Home Depot, maybe I am just wasting my time. I put disagree, but I don’t really think you can separate the two. All good businessmen have some level of creative drive; those who don’t have the ability to innovate will stagnate due to their lack of new ideas. Nobody likes a regurgitator. Likewise, all successful artists and writers have to have some level of business sense; you have to be able to gauge what people will like, and know enough about business so you’re able to make the most money out of your products, because even “flighty” artists and writers know what money is and know that you need it to survive. And there’s some jobs that are equal parts business and creativity–book publishers and movie producers deal with the money end of production, but they also make creative decisions that will affect the finished product. IMO, there’s no separating business and art; in the end, they’re one and the same. (Economic -4.25, Social -6.92) ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/28 "2005-01-18T19:12:57Z")
> [@continuity eror](#): > > And people in the entertainment business don’t work at their entertaining skills? I routinely put in five-hour sittings working on my writing, and I’d like to think I’m working as hard as someone filing reports. Though I suppose if people can get artistic satisfaction out of the Home Depot, maybe I am just wasting my time. You misunderstand. The arts are hardly worthless, but they fulfill ‘wants’, not ‘needs’. And the arts are hardly the only way we ‘entertain’ ourselves. You don’t need a fine oil painting hanging over your bed to do naughty stuff. You don’t need a book of poetry to work on your car or build a cabinet. We can still be entertained without professional artists, but having those artists around is very nice. > [@](#): > > I put disagree, but I don’t really think you can separate the two. All good businessmen have some level of creative drive; those who don’t have the ability to innovate will stagnate due to their lack of new ideas. Creative drive does not equal writers and artists. Other than people with various disorders, I would guess that everyone has some degree of creative drive. Only those that channel it into a fulltime pursuit of the arts would be an artist, of whatever sort. > [@](#): > > . Likewise, all successful artists and writers have to have some level of business sense… But not all _good_ artists do, wouldn’t you agree? Nobody is saying throw artists in the bear pit (though that would fall under ‘entertainment’ ;)). The way I looked at the question was this: Let’s say you are ‘stocking the fleet’ for your own Battlestar Galactica. You want enough techs to man the ships, and you want enough troops and military types to defend you, and then you want lots of people that can build things and grow things fix things and manage and coordinate the whole shebang. Sure, you would stick a few fulltime artist types in there, because people really do enjoy the entertainment they can provide, but you aren’t going to put a heckuva lot of them on there. They don’t provide _needs_. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/29 "2005-01-18T19:38:46Z")
> [@MGibson](#): > > Yes. Unless Dickenson was the one who created her own ink, paper, and pens and let’s not forget the clothing she wore, the house she lived in, and the food she ate. Even Amish communities rely on manufacturers to sustain their economy and many of them have merchants that deal with other Amish or even the outside world. That’s what I meant by the “no man is an island” remark. The artist is no more dependant on these purveyors of basic necessities than anyone else, so why should their work be discounted because of it? Should we knock Donald Trump’s contributions to society because he doesn’t grow his own grain and bake his own bread? The baker is dependent on the guys who laid the water pipes or the truckers who deliver the raw materials, or for that matter on the farmer. No one is an island, completely self-sustaining, so why should Dickenson’s work with a pen and paper, that she did not produce herself, be less important than Trump’s work with a pen and paper, that he also did not produce himself? > [@MGibson](#): > > The question is not whether art is necessary or not. The question is “what is more important?” Certainly, art has existed throughout the course of modern man. However literature, motion pictures, architecture, and sculptures all rely on a network of merchants and manufacturers to exist. And the merchants and manufacturers rely on designers and architects to produce the first prototype of any good or to design their buildings. Merchants and distributors of motion pictures rely on the writers and creative teams to produce a motion picture to distribute and sell. The question of importance comes in when you’re talking about a discrete goal. If the goal is mere subsistence, then sure. We can’t eat or drink without the businesspeople doing their thing. If we’re talking about making a society worth living in then the artist comes into their own. To take **Brutus’s** Battlestar Galatica analogy, the goal would be to make sure you staff to ensure subsistence for the journey through space. Still, that journey would probably be considered a low point as far as quality of life is concerned when compared to a time when you had more time and resources were free to pursue artistic endeavors. You could get by day to day, but if given the choice between a life in the Galatica convoy and a life on a planet with a stable and growing culture, I bet most people would prefer to leave the convoy. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/30 "2005-01-18T19:49:29Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > Let’s say you are ‘stocking the fleet’ for your own Battlestar Galactica. You want enough techs to man the ships, and you want enough troops and military types to defend you, and then you want lots of people that can build things and grow things fix things and manage and coordinate the whole shebang. Sure, you would stick a few fulltime artist types in there, because people really do enjoy the entertainment they can provide, but you aren’t going to put a heckuva lot of them on there. They don’t provide _needs_. Are soldiers and techs businessmen though? I usually think of businessmen as people that run companies, get financing, organize flow charts, etc. If you define businessmen as “anyone that produces anything or provides a service that isn’t a form of art” then obviously we need businessmen more then writers. If you define businessman as an executive of a company, which I think is the normal usage, I’d say artists are more important for the same reason as others have stated, they are almost universal in human societies while businessmen are not. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/31 "2005-01-18T19:50:30Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > Let’s say you are ‘stocking the fleet’ for your own Battlestar Galactica. You want enough techs to man the ships, and you want enough troops and military types to defend you, and then you want lots of people that can build things and grow things fix things and manage and coordinate the whole shebang. Sure, you would stick a few fulltime artist types in there, because people really do enjoy the entertainment they can provide, but you aren’t going to put a heckuva lot of them on there. They don’t provide _needs_. Galactica. You want enough techs to man the ships, and you want enough troops and military types to defend you, and then you want lots of people that can build things and grow things fix things and manage and coordinate the whole shebang. Sure, you would stick a few fulltime artist types in there, because people really do enjoy the entertainment they can provide, but you aren’t going to put a heckuva lot of them on there. They don’t provide _needs_. [/QUOTE] Perhaps you wouldn’t put a lot of artists in, but wouldn’t you put in the products of artists? If we were founding a new colony on another planet, and we were going to be totally disconnected from Earth for a very long time, we would make sure to stock the ship with lots of disks filled with books and art and music, because to be separated from Earth culture for such a long period of time would cause insanity. Think about it: people isolated from the bulk of humanity for a very long time, without anything to amuse themselves? That’s cultural deprivation. People do need art to survive–it might not seem as urgent a need as food or shelter, but it’s there. Try living without television or movies or music for a year and see how you do. There’s something in the human psyche that responds to made-up stories–people’s minds need art just as much as their bodies need food, and I don’t think a group of people gone nutty from lack of exposure to art and music would be very good colony leaders. Even Columbus’ crew brought along books and musical instruments when they came to the New World. There probably would have been riots if he hadn’t. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/32 "2005-01-18T20:06:21Z")
Here’s the way I enterpret the statement. Fundamental to being human is the ability to solve problems, make tools, and communicate. These abilities manifest themselves in manufactured things (stone tools, spears, ploughs, spaceships…) and artistic things (body painting, cave art, music, poetry…). Neither one can be said to be “more important” than the other since BOTH are essential to the nature of being human. Animals hunt and build things, but no one would call these the activities of “businessanimals”. Creating a business is exactly that-- a process of creation. Just as art is. You wouldn’t have one without the other, as they are both the product of the suite of characteristics that make us human. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/33 "2005-01-18T20:08:48Z")
> [@MGibson](#): > > Yes. Unless Dickenson was the one who created her own ink, paper, and pens and let’s not forget the clothing she wore, the house she lived in, and the food she ate. Even Amish communities rely on manufacturers to sustain their economy and many of them have merchants that deal with other Amish or even the outside world. That’s what I meant by the “no man is an island” remark. The artist is no more dependant on these purveyors of basic necessities than anyone else, so why should their work be discounted because of it? Should we knock Donald Trump’s contributions to society because he doesn’t grow his own grain and bake his own bread? The baker is dependent on the guys who laid the water pipes or the truckers who deliver the raw materials, or for that matter on the farmer. No one is an island, completely self-sustaining, so why should Dickenson’s work with a pen and paper, that she did not produce herself, be less important than Trump’s work with a pen and paper, that he also did not produce himself? > [@MGibson](#): > > The question is not whether art is necessary or not. The question is “what is more important?” Certainly, art has existed throughout the course of modern man. However literature, motion pictures, architecture, and sculptures all rely on a network of merchants and manufacturers to exist. And the merchants and manufacturers rely on designers and architects to produce the first prototype of any good or to design their buildings. Merchants and distributors of motion pictures rely on the writers and creative teams to produce a motion picture to distribute and sell. The question of importance comes in when you’re talking about a discrete goal. If the goal is mere subsistence, then sure. We can’t eat or drink without the businesspeople doing their thing. If we’re talking about making a society worth living in then the artist comes into their own. To take **Brutus’s** Battlestar Galatica analogy, the goal would be to make sure you staff to ensure subsistence for the journey through space. Still, that journey would probably be considered a low point as far as quality of life is concerned when compared to a time when you had more time and resources were free to pursue artistic endeavors. You could get by day to day, but if given the choice between a life in the Galatica convoy and a life on a planet with a stable and growing culture, I bet most people would prefer to leave the convoy. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Demorian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demorian/32/7273_2.png) [@Demorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demorian)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/34 "2005-01-18T20:29:07Z")
I’ll put it this way: If I was standing next to a brilliant business person and a genius author, and I only had time to save one before, um, whatever, I would be sending flowers to the businessperson’s widow/widoewer. MBAs are a dime a dozen. BFAs may not make much, but they contribute more. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/35 "2005-01-18T21:01:13Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > That’s what I meant by the “no man is an island” remark. The artist is no more dependant on these purveyors of basic necessities than anyone else, so why should their work be discounted because of it? I’m not discounting their work nor the importance of it. I had to pick which one was more important and I pick manufacturers and businessman. > [@](#): > > If the goal is mere subsistence, then sure. We can’t eat or drink without the businesspeople doing their thing. If we’re talking about making a society worth living in then the artist comes into their own. I still maintain that the merchant and producer are more important because you cannot have artist without them. Writing would probably not exist were it not for merchants. Marc ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/36 "2005-01-18T22:19:10Z")
> [@MGibson](#): > > I still maintain that the merchant and producer are more important because you cannot have artist without them. Writing would probably not exist were it not for merchants. > > Marc I’m fully on the “equally important” bandwagon. While it may be true that writing was largely developed as a means of keeping track of transactions and art has always had a commercial aspect, the idea of expressing oneself and reacting to the world metaphorically also seems to have been with us since the “caveman” days. Without artists/craftsmen, merchants are severly limited in terms of inventory. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/37 "2005-01-18T23:06:22Z")
Businessmen (and others) are necessary for building civiliazation. Writers and artists are necessary for making it worth living in. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/38 "2005-01-19T01:04:44Z")
> [@MGibson](#): > > Probably not. We have evidence of abstract thinking in the form of stone tools dating back to before the earliest evidence of any art produced by man. > > Marc As a person who works in a museum which houses many prehistoric stone tools, I can vouch for the fact that many of them are artistic-- that is, they are intentionally made prettier than their function dictates. Some have been crafted from materials which were apparently selected for their beauty alone (the material was collected from some distance away and is in no way a superior stone to that found locally, other than in its aesthetic qualities.) Sometimes, the tool has been carved in order to take advantage of natural colorations in the stone, or has been smoothly polished until it gleams-- things not necessary for the functioning of the tool. We also have examples of very ancient stone pottery which has been decorated with patterns of dots and lines, and (later dated) stone pipes which have been carved in the form of animals and birds. Just because not much of the art of early man has survived should we assume that there was none. There are traces of art going back very early in human history. There’s not really signs of a sudden explosion, or realization, of art at any specific point in history, as if man suddenly became aware of its artistic ability. As I’ve said, their tools show evidence of at least aesthetic appreciation. ---
**Author:** ![Demorian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demorian/32/7273_2.png) [@Demorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demorian)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/39 "2005-01-19T01:40:17Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > Just because not much of the art of early man has survived should we assume that there was none. There are traces of art going back very early in human history. There’s not really signs of a sudden explosion, or realization, of art at any specific point in history, as if man suddenly became aware of its artistic ability. As I’ve said, their tools show evidence of at least aesthetic appreciation. Good catch. It is also worth noting that art also comes in the form of language, song, painting, and decoration, none of which would have survived. While I’m certain that business people have existed since the first time Thus traded Gor a fish for some berries, I think you would have a very weak argument to say that art didn’t exist at that time. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174/40 "2005-01-19T02:55:47Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > As a person who works in a museum which houses many prehistoric stone tools, I can vouch for the fact that many of them are artistic-- that is, they are intentionally made prettier than their function dictates. That’s an overly broad definition of art in my opinion. So humans appeared to have asthetic sensibilities in choosing some of the materials they use. There’s a big step between that and the cave paintings in France. > [@](#): > > Just because not much of the art of early man has survived should we assume that there was none. There are traces of art going back very early in human history. I suppose we shouldn’t but we’re going to have to go with the physical evidence we have available. A polished spear head or an arrowhead made with a prettier color of stone isn’t in the same league as a cave painting. Marc [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-compass-47-businessmen-are-more-important-than-writers-and-artists/285174.md?page=3)