Art, Emotion, and Evolution

What may account for the existence of artistic practices that are individually and socially costly, such as the sacrifices one has to make when learning how to play an instrument or the financial and human means involved in the construction of cathedrals? In the perspective of evolutionary aesthetics, the author of this paper holds that by developing empathy and the sharing of emotions, art reinforced the cohesion of the groups practicing it and thus contributed to their superiority over other groups. He then considers various positions originating from naturalistic aesthetics (in particular the theory of art as a spandrel and the theory of sexual selection).