The appreciation of nature and natural beauty demands our attention as environmental issues become ever more urgent. In this timely introduction, Glenn Parsons provides an overview of philosophical work on the aesthetics of nature, identifying key conceptual questions, clarifying central theories, and analyzing the ethical ramifications of our experience of natural beauty.
Outlining five major approaches to understanding the aesthetic value of nature, this second edition explores the aesthetic appreciation of nature as it occurs in wilderness, in gardens, and in the context of appreciating environmental art. Now updated to cover recent developments in the field, it includes: ·
A new chapter on the sublime, the picturesque, and the beautiful ·
Expanded discussion of empirical and evolutionary accounts of nature appreciation, as well as the appreciation of the environment in non-Western cultures ·
A new chapter on the aesthetic appreciation of animals ·
An in-depth analysis of the appreciation of nature through cinema and photography ·
Discussion of the relation between environmental appreciation and climate change
Combining a clear and engaging style with a sophisticated treatment of a fascinating subject, Aesthetics and Nature explores the aesthetic dimension of humanity's relationship with our physical surroundings. This a must-read for anyone who cares about nature and the future of our environment.
Acknowledgements Introduction: Aesthetics and Nature from an Analytic Perspective 1. The Conceptual Background: Nature 1.1 The end of Nature? 1.2 Is Nature a Useful concept? 1.3 Some Alternatives: Wilderness, Landscape, Environment 2. The Conceptual Background: Beauty and Aesthetic Value 2.1 Beauty 2.2 The Sublime, the Picturesque and the Aesthetic 2.3 Two Questions About Aesthetic Value 2.4 Two Accounts of Aesthetic Value 3. Imagination, Belief and Aesthetic Judgement 3.1 From Ethics to Ice Cream 3.2 Thought Contents 3.3 Anything goes? A Relativist Approach 3.4 Objections to the Relativist Approach 4. Formalism 4.1 Traditional Formalism 4.2 Strengths of Formalism 4.3 Quantification and Formalism in Empirical Landscape Assessment 4.4 Objections to Traditional Formalism 4.5 Zangwill’s Formalism 5. Science and the Aesthetics of Nature 5.1 Science and the nature critic 5.2 Another Turn in the Taste for Landscape? Positive Aesthetics 5.3 Objections to the science-based approach 5.4 The Fusion Problem 6. Pluralism 6.1 A Modest Pluralism 6.2 Robust Pluralism 6.3 Problems for Robust Pluralism (two arguments redux) 6.4 Modest Pluralism Again 7. Nature and the Aesthetics of Engagement 7.1 The Challenge to Disinterestedness 7.2 An Engaged Aesthetics of Nature 7.3 Problems for Berleant’s Engaged Aesthetic 7.4 Engagement, Unity, and the Aesthetic 8. Animals 8.1 Appreciating Animals 8.2 Normative Questions 8.3 Are there ugly species? 9. Aesthetic Issues in Environmental Protection, Restoration and Rewilding 9.1 Aesthetic Protection in Theory and Practice 9.2 Two Issues for Aesthetic Protection 9.3 Aesthetic Protection, Ethics, and the Problem of Taste 9.4 Biodiversity and the Politics of Aesthetic Protection 9.5 Aesthetic Remediation, Restoration and Rewilding 10. The Sublime, the Picturesque, and the Beautiful 10.1 Rise and Fall of the Sublime 10.2 Contemporary Theories of the Sublime 10.3 Reappraising the Picturesque 10.4 Beauty, Taste and Love of Place 11. Nature in the Garden 11.1 The Garden as Nature 11.2 The Garden as Art 11.3 Is Nature Essential to the Garden? 11.4 Appreciating Gardens: Interaction, Achievement, Atmosphere 12. Art In Nature 12.1 The Ethics of Environmental Art: Four Questions 12.2 Is Environmental Art an Aesthetic Affront to Nature? 12.3 Is the Effrontery Charge Justified? 12.4 Is the Effrontery Charge Coherent? 13. Nature Through Art: Mediated Appreciation 13.1 Mediated Appreciation 13.2 Two Problems for Mediated Appreciation 13.3 Beyond Accuracy: Generative Mediation 14. Epilogue: Aesthetics in the Anthropocene? Philosophical and Empirical Challenges Bibliography Index
Glenn Parsons is Professor of Philosophy at Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada.
Reviews for Aesthetics and Nature: The Appreciation of Natural Beauty and the Environment
Weaving together ideas from an impressively wide range of authors, this volume will be of remarkable value to newcomers and experts alike, across the Environmental Humanities. Glenn Parsons' writing is exceptionally clear and accessible, all while being precise and faithful to original sources. If there were only one book I could suggest on the topic, it would be this one. * Levi Tenen, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Kettering University, USA *
