The Aesthetics of Natural Environments

312 Pages·2004·1.236 MB·English

by  Arnold Berleant, Allen Carlson

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The Aesthetics of Natural Environments
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The Aesthetics of
Natural Environments
b
Edited by
Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleant
broadview press
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©2004 Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleantrthur Sullivan
All rights reserved.The use of any part of this publication reproduced,transmitted in any form
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Yonge Street,Suite 1900,Toronto,Ontario M5E 1E5 — is an infringement of the copyright
law.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication
The aesthetics of natural environments / edited by Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleant.
ISBN 1-55111-470-4
1.Nature (Aesthetics). I.Carlson,Allen. II.Berleant,Arnold,1932– .
BH301.N3A36 2004 111¢.85 C2003-906272-4
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Contents
Preface / 7
Acknowledgements / 9
Introduction:The Aesthetics of Nature / 11
Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleant
1. Contemporary Aesthetics and the Neglect of Natural Beauty / 43
Ronald Hepburn
2. Appreciation and the Natural Environment / 63
Allen Carlson
3. The Aesthetics of Art and Nature / 76
Arnold Berleant
4. On Being Moved by Nature:Between Religion
and Natural History / 89
Noël Carroll
5. Icebreakers:Environmentalism and Natural Aesthetics / 108
Stan Godlovitch
6. Landscape and the Metaphysical Imagination / 127
Ronald Hepburn
7. Appreciating Nature on Its Own Terms / 141
Yuriko Saito
8. Imagination and the Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature / 156
Emily Brady
9. Fact and Fiction in the Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature / 170
Marcia Muelder Eaton
10. The Aesthetic Experience of Forests / 182
Holmes Rolston III
11. The Narrative and the Ambient in Environmental Aesthetics / 197
Cheryl Foster
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12. Appreciating Natural Beauty as Natural / 214
Ronald Moore
13. What the Hills are Alive With:In Defense of the Sounds of
Nature / 232
John Andrew Fisher
14. Scenery and the Aesthetics of Nature / 253
Donald W. Crawford
15. Aesthetic Appreciation and the Many Stories about Nature / 269
Thomas Heyd
16. Environmental Stories:Speaking and Writing Nature / 283
Yrjö Sepänmaa
Notes on Contributors / 295
Sources / 299
Index / 301
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Preface
As we observe in the introduction to this volume, the contemporary treatment of
the aesthetics of nature is of relatively recent origin. Prior to Ronald Hepburn’s
groundbreaking “Contemporary Aesthetics and the Neglect of Natural Beauty,”
the subject was almost nonexistent in twentieth-century philosophical aesthetics.
The essays gathered in this collection present some of the main ideas and themes
concerning the aesthetics of nature that have been developed in the wake of Hep-
burn’s essay. Together they give what we believe is a reasonably clear and accu-
rate picture of the present state of discussion within the field.
Nonetheless, limitations of space have kept us from including all those who
have made important contributions to this new area of research. We attempt to
remedy this situation, at least in part, by discussing the views of many of these
individuals in the introduction to the volume. The introduction gives an overview
of the development of the field and situates within the discussion most of its key
contributors. Likewise,we have not been able to include within the main body of
the volume all the themes that are pursued in the contemporary discussion of the
aesthetics of nature. Again, as in the case of individual contributors, we mention
many of these themes in the introduction.
The introduction also provides an extensive set of notes that offers additional
information on issues and individuals. These notes cite much of the important
research in the field and are designed to allow the reader to follow up both the
ongoing thought of individual contributors and the continuing investigation of par-
ticular themes. We have opted for this method of citing significant primary and
secondary sources,since we think it more informative and useful than a standard
bibliography.
We hope that the introduction and especially the collection of essays itself will
provide a fruitful entry into what we believe is an important and rewarding area of
philosophical research.
Allen Carlson Arnold Berleant
Edmonton,Alberta Castine,Maine
Canada USA
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Acknowledgements
We especially thank the authors for agreeing to contribute their essays.
Moreover,we thank Philip Alperson,editor of The Journal of Aesthetics and Art
Criticism,as well as the journal’s editorial board,for inviting us to edit a special
issue of the journal (Volume 56, number 2, spring 1998) on environmental aes-
thetics. Several of the essays reprinted here first appeared in that special issue,the
editing of which was our initial collaboration and eventually led to the publication
of this volume.
We also thank Don LePan, the president of Broadview Press, for encouraging
us to edit the volume, and his editorial staff, especially Julia Gaunce, for their
assistance and advice concerning its preparation for publication.
Last but not least, we express our appreciation for the support and encourage-
ment of our respective universities,colleagues,friends,and families.
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