PBSs new series How Art Made the World has really captivated me over the past couple weeks. The first two episodes combine art history with cognitive science and neurobiology archaelogy human evolution and anthropology�interdisciplinary inquiry at its best. Dr. Michael Spivey (Art Historian Cambridge University) narrates easily moving back and forth between between various disciplines to explain the human need for and ability to create representation in two-dimensional images and three-dimensional sculpture. The questions asked move beyond art criticism to explore why humans create certain kinds of images and why certain kinds of representations seem to produce heightened pleasure in our consumption of art. My inner Deweyan loves the way Spiveys explanations seamlessly blend scientific knowledge with interpretive discussions of arts meaning. My only quibble especially in the 2nd episode was that the narrative is a kind of triumphal progression: each episode begins with a mystery and ends with The Answer. Although it makes for great educational television the social scientist in me would blanched at Dr. Spiveys certainty about his answers; I would have prefered a more open ended provisional answer (especially where archaelogical speculation is concerned!).