Aesthetics and The Environment: The Appreciation of Nature, Art and Architecture
Abstract
Now in paperback, Aesthetics and the Environment presents fresh and fascinating insights into our interpretation of the environment. Traditional aesthetics is often associated with the appreciation of art, but Allen Carlson shows how much of our aesthetic experience does not encompass art but nature--in our response to sunsets, mountains or horizons or more mundane surroundings, like gardens or the view from our window. Carlson argues that knowledge of what it is we are appreciating is essential to having an appropriate aesthetic experience and that a scientific understanding of nature can enhance our appreciation of it, rather than denigrate it.
... Environmental aesthetics provides tools to appreciate the qualities of aesthetic experiences in nature. According to Allen Carlson, aesthetics is not confined to art but encompasses our broader sensory perceptions (Carlson, 2000). Hence, aesthetic experiences include our surroundings, taking in the whole environment and can, accordingly, be applied to experiences in nature as well (Carlson, 2000). ...
... According to Allen Carlson, aesthetics is not confined to art but encompasses our broader sensory perceptions (Carlson, 2000). Hence, aesthetic experiences include our surroundings, taking in the whole environment and can, accordingly, be applied to experiences in nature as well (Carlson, 2000). ...
... Human and natural interactions are complicated phenomena [8,9,11,12]. Much art inherently incorporates natural elements [15]; however, art is rarely studied in a Biophilic framework [14]. Researchers argued that art not only personalises a space but also acts as a visual focal point, providing mental relaxation and interest. ...
... The relationship between nature and the arts is profound and symbiotic. Nature inspires art through landscapes, wildlife, and natural phenomena, while art reflects and celebrates the beauty, complexity, and essence of the natural world [15]. However, there is a significant lack of research exploring emotional responses to artwork within the framework of Biophilic theories [14]. ...
Biophilic design is a well-recognised discipline aimed at enhancing health and well-being, however, most buildings lack adequate representation of nature or nature-inspired art. Notable barriers exist such as wealth, education, and physical ability restricting people’s accessibility to nature and associated artworks. An AI-based Biophilic arts curation and personalised recommendation system were developed in this study to improve accessibility to biophilic arts. Existing Biophilic research mainly focuses on building design principles, limited research exists to examine biophilic arts and associated emotional responses. In this paper, an interdisciplinary study addresses this gap by developing metrics for Biophilic art attributes and potential emotional responses, drawing on existing Biophilic architecture attributes and PANAS items. A public survey of 200 participants was developed in this study. The survey collected art viewers’ ratings of Biophilic attributes and associated emotional responses to establish statistical correlations between Biophilic attributes and emotional responses. The statistical analysis established a positive correlation between Biophilic attributes and positive emotions. The public survey results show significant positive emotional impacts (p-value <0.05) after exposure to Biophilic images, supporting further research and development of the Biophilic art curation system. This digital curation system employs Computer Vision algorithms (ResNet50) to automate Biophilic art categorisation and generate personalised recommendations. This study emphasises the importance of integrating nature into built environments. It proposes that artificial intelligence could significantly enhance the categorisation and recommendation of Biophilic art, advocating for expanding Biophilic art databases for emotionally responsive art display systems, benefiting mental health, and making art more accessible.
... [2] This approach is particularly relevant in higher education, where the development of a holistic perspective can significantly enhance the cognitive and emotional capacities of students. Environmental aesthetics, as part of a well-rounded educational framework, can stimulate critical thinking, creativity, and an ethical commitment towards the environment, which are essential qualities in today's globally conscious citizen [3] . ...
... Environmental aesthetics has increasingly been recognized as an influential factor in educational settings, with a growing body of literature supporting its integral role in enhancing learning experiences and outcomes. Studies such as those by Carlson (2000) have articulated the value of environmental aesthetics in cultivating a deeper appreciation and understanding of both natural and constructed environments, highlighting its potential to enrich student engagement and learning processes. Moreover, Berleant (1992) emphasizes that an aesthetic engagement with the environment promotes a sensory and emotional connection, which is crucial for developing a comprehensive educational experience. ...
The aim of this paper is to assess the current status of comprehensive quality among college students and to explore effective ways to enhance these qualities through environmental aesthetic education. By examining existing educational practices and their outcomes, this study proposes strategic integration of aesthetic environmental elements into educational settings. It seeks to demonstrate how such integration can contribute to the overall enhancement of students' abilities to engage thoughtfully and innovatively with their world. The ultimate goal is to provide actionable recommendations that can be implemented in higher education institutions to cultivate a more aesthetically aware and environmentally responsive student body.
... This requires the pattern-finding capabilities of the brain, that is, information structures must be turned into a pattern [33]. As Carlson claims, "the aesthetic appreciation of architecture poses certain challenges not typically present in the appreciation of other arts" [34] (p. 179). ...
... This question of similarity between architectural details, which occurred partially as a result of the accomplishment of the sustainability-based and energy-oriented design strategies, and works of art, can evoke aesthetic appreciation conditioned by the observer's active engagement. The latter involves the "cognitive and emotional interaction" [34] that is built between the onlooker and the object of his observation. ...
Contemporary architecture is shaped by the paradigm of sustainability and is characteristic of many solutions determined by a relevant set of principles related to shaping the environment based on the ecology of systems focused on the flow of energy. These design principles concern gaining energy from renewable resources, protection against the loss of thermal energy from buildings, protection against the excess of thermal energy in buildings, and proper distribution of thermal energy in buildings. This paper presents a proposal for a method to analyze some building components used as sustainability-related elements given their formal similarity to historic architectural details or some artworks integrated with buildings. It aims to emphasize the potential of a different perspective from which to perceive and assess buildings, and specifically their architectural details, given their spatial and aesthetic values associated with sustainable technical solutions. This study is based on a few differentiated examples. It proves the relations mentioned above true, given the sustainability paradigm epitomized in technical solutions to contemporary buildings and the related aesthetic features characterizing the relevant architectural detailing. Such a perception of buildings is intended to promote unconventional viewing and assessment of them by the public and professionals in the area of architecture and art. It would make them discover new types of aesthetic values, which are usually invisible.
... Men are more likely than women to face work-family conflict, according to certain studies (Duxbury & Higgins, 1991). Work-family conflict affects women more than it does males (Carlson, 2002). Men are more likely than women to face work-family conflict, according to certain studies (Duxbury & Higgins, 1991). ...
... Men are more likely than women to face work-family conflict, according to certain studies (Duxbury & Higgins, 1991). Work-family conflict affects women more than it does males (Carlson, 2002). According to Pleck (1977), due of their gender identity (self-concept), men and women are more likely to encounter interference from work to family and from work to family, respectively, and because of this, women are more likely to experience interference from work to family. ...
... Experiencing a Japanese garden visually is a deep-rooted tradition and has fascinated generations (Suzuki 2004). These gardens are often associated with their miniaturisation, stylisation, and manipulation of scale in space (Carlson 2000), leading to debates about the interplay between the natural and artificial. ...
... Although the influence of education and prior experience on aesthetic appreciation of natural landscapes and properties has not been tested, it is evident that aesthetic appreciation in arts is significantly influenced by complex webs of meaning derived from their self-hood, personal experience, and socio-cultural surroundings (Carlson, 2005;Harland et al. 2000;Jorgensen, 2011;Vuong, 2024). Thus, increasing opportunities for nature interactions (e.g., pets, plants, public parks, nature-based recreation) and environmental education can be a good strategy to shape urban residents' aesthetic perception. ...
Aesthetics is a crucial ecosystem service provided by biodiversity, which is believed to help improve humans' quality of life and is linked to environmental consciousness and pro-environmental behaviors. However, how aesthetic experience induced by plants/animals influences the belief in the occurrence and significance of biodiversity loss among urban residents remains understudied. Thus, the current study aimed to examine how the diversity of pets and in-house plants affect urban residents' belief in biodiversity loss in different scenarios of aesthetic experiences (positive and negative aesthetic experiences at home due to plants/animals). Using the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics on a dataset of 535 Vietnamese urban residents, we found that the people's aesthetic feeling about their house induced by plants/animals is positively associated with their belief in the occurrence and significance of biodiversity loss. The diversity of plants and pets is also positively associated with the level of biodiversity loss belief, but the effect is conditional on the aesthetic experience of the urban residents. Specifically, the positive association between species diversity and the belief only appears when urban residents feel that their houses' aesthetics are negatively affected by plants/animals. Moreover, the association between pet diversity and biodiversity loss belief is less significant and reliable than that of plant diversity. These findings suggest that raising the houses' aesthetics through in-house planting or pet ownership can potentially enhance biodiversity loss belief and subsequently build an eco-surplus culture among urban residents.
... Accordingly, an environmental aesthetic approach to ruins focuses on the sensory immersion between the ruin and its visitor that can be understood as an intimate relationship that emerges in the experience. The ruin is then to be considered less as a static object and rather as a site of processes of ruination and decay, 'as environmental and ecological, with all of the dynamic, changing and spontaneous processes' (Brady & Prior, 2020, p. 256, with reference to Carlson, 2000Carlson, , 2010Gobster, 1999); (ii) multisensory and somatic account: According to Berleant's ecological understanding of environment and experience, emphasis is on a multisensory and somatic account of experiences of ruins including material forces that goes beyond a pure (primarily visual) perception of derelict places by the separated physiological senses (Berleant, 2005b(Berleant, , 2010. In this context, Emery (2022) refers to 'bodily-material dynamics' (p. ...
... For environmental aesthetics, Hepburn's essay is considered a landmark. After Hepburn wrote her article, many researchers, especially Alen Carlson and Arnold Berleant, started to research the aesthetic experience of the environment (Carlson, 2000;Berleant, 1994). Despite the empirical studies, Jay Appleton sees a theoretical vacuum in Environmental Aesthetic studies (Carslon, 2009) and theorizes the prospect-refuge theory for landscape preferences. ...
The perception of historical urban areas is essential for the city. This study used photographs taken in Antalya Kaleiçi to question the perception of historic urban areas in the whole metropolitan area. In the study, in which the psychological model method was used in environmental aesthetics, categorization was carried out by factor analysis. In the study, in which five different categories emerged, it was revealed that users liked the open prospect views the most, and the streets were significantly less. The study's results are thought to contribute to the management of historic city centers.
... Present practices in architectural space design advocate for surpassing previous standards in art and technology in the field, yet there appears to be a reduced focus on understanding and addressing the emotional requirements of the general populace. The theories surrounding everyday architectural aesthetics, along with the cognitive and emotional strategies towards aesthetics introduced by the American environmental aesthetician Allen Carlson in the early 21st century, highlight the aesthetic differences between professional architects, critics, and those who occupy buildings without a background in architecture [10]. In addition, the framework for aesthetic experience developed by Leder and his team at the Department of Psychology at the University of Vienna, Austria, in their research into the psychological and biological underpinnings of aesthetics-termed neuroaesthetics-more accurately indicates that in the innate aesthetic judgement process of an individual lacking professional artistic expertise, the brain's activity is grounded in sensory analysis and the integration of implicit memory, centered around emotional evaluation. ...
To better meet the emotional needs of older residents and to improve the design of age-friendly indoor interface forms, this study uses Kansei engineering as the theoretical basis for an exploration of the mapping relationship between emotional needs and interface forms. First, we collected spatial interface forms through in-home research, and using focus groups, we summarized and produced test samples for interface forms; at the same time, we screened out adjective word pairs that could fully represent the emotional needs of older people in the city of Jinan, drawing on expert interviews; then, we invited 500 older adults living in Jinan all year to evaluate each interface form using representative adjective word pairs as the emotional evaluation criteria, following the semantic differential method. Subsequently, the participants were invited to evaluate and score the interface form samples using representative adjective word pairs as the standard of emotional evaluation, employing the semantic differential method. Finally, the evaluation scores were input into SPSS software for the Kruskal–Wallis test to explore the relationships between various interface forms and emotional needs. The experimental results showed that the assessment scoring results for each interface form in each set of pairs of adjectives that differed significantly, where each interface had a clear emotional tendency. This study successfully established a mapping model for matching indoor interface forms with emotional needs in age-friendly housing in Jinan. These findings can provide a reference for future practice of designing residential indoor interface forms to match the emotional needs of older people in Jinan.
... Philosophically speaking, aesthetics refers to an appreciation of things when they affect one's senses in a pleasant way (Carlson, 2005). Mathwick et al. (2001) describe aesthetics as responses to the harmony, balance, and unity found in physical objects (e.g., buildings), artworks (e.g., songs, poems), or performances. ...
Even though the role of aesthetics in human life is presumed, its critical role in tourism experience formation is not well-understood. Aesthetic experiences are in the genes of culture and heritage sites; however, aesthetic experience formation in heritage tourism sites is void in tourism theory. To fill this void in the current tourism theory, the current study explores how tourists define aesthetics and how aesthetic tourism experiences are formed in the context of heritage tourism, in a particular tourism heritage setting – the Chinese classical gardens. The findings revealed the manifestation and connotation of the Yin-Yang symbolism in Chinese tourists’ ways of appreciating both the natural and cultural landscapes within a World Heritage Site. The study highlights the notion of “aesthetic gaze” as a term that implies the vital influences of individuals’ cultural, philosophical, and aesthetic traditions on their ways of generating tourism aesthetic experiences.
... In addition, Urry examines the connection between modernity and tourism, highlighting the ways in which tourism is influenced by larger social and economic developments. Allen Carlson (2000) examines the relationship between aesthetics and the environment with a particular emphasis on appreciating art, architecture, and nature. It explores diverse viewpoints on our perceptions of and values for the natural world, as well as the philosophical underpinnings of environmental aesthetics. ...
This study aims to shed light on the artistic potential of Hail City's natural scenery (KSA), including its formal elements with expressive and symbolic connotations that are unaltered by human intervention. It attempts to highlight the significance of scenography for the fields of theater, film, light, and color shows. The framework of the research is an analytical descriptive approach through two axes: the first is an analysis of the natural scenography in Hail city from an aesthetic and functional standpoint. The second axe involves polling a sample of (15) experts in the arts and film to determine whether natural scenography serves an artistic purpose in Hail city and to what extent it is still relevant to the arts and film. One of the findings of the study is that Hail city's mountainous scenery offers distinctive and lovely natural scenography that may be exploited for a variety of purposes. The study recommends promoting Hail city 's natural beauty through marketing and advertising to highlight its aesthetic features and to profit from the visual treasure the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has to offer in its charming landscape.
... In questo stesso senso, adotto l'espressione "sostantività del paesaggio" per indicare, a titolo di ipotesi, un modo di intendere il paesaggio come entità almeno relativamente autonoma e auto-sussistente, idiografica, riconoscibile e auto-espressiva. Questa concezione del paesaggio si definisce per differenza nei confronti di posizioni di tipo rappresentazionale, secondo le quali il paesaggio è un costrutto ora mentale, ora artistico, comunque culturale, separato, almeno concettualmente, dalla realtà dell'ambiente e del territorio (Carlson 2000, Raffestin 2005, Magnaghi 2020. ...
... 18 Cf. Hill (1999); Carlson (2000); Führ (2000); Dalibor (2004);Böhme (2006);Fewings (2009);Baumberger (2010); Düchs (2011). 19 Cf. ...
Ludger Schwarte (Münster, 1965) es profesor de filosofía en la Kunstakademie de Düsseldorf. Es ampliamente considerado como uno de los representantes más importantes de la filosofía de la arquitectura, una disciplina que ha venido desarrollándose rápidamente en las últimas dos décadas y cuya actualidad es cada vez mayor. En su monumental libro Philosophie der Architektur (2009), desarrolla una filosofía política ―y no meramente estética o simbólica― de la arquitectura. Su original planteamiento consiste en entender la arquitectura, en primer lugar, como construcción de posibilidades, esto es, en su capacidad de instaurar, definir o movilizar los fundamentos del «mundo de la vida» vigente en cada caso a través de la producción de espacios, registros temporales y medios de interacción que determinan nuestra experiencia. En este sentido, para Schwarte la filosofía de la arquitectura tiene una importancia fundamental en la medida en que ayuda a rastrear la génesis de una especie de «sentido fundamental» que constituye la raíz común de las formas de vida y de los órdenes lingüísticos. El presente artículo, la primera traducción del autor alemán al español, ofrece una síntesis de su proyecto de una filosofía de la arquitectura.
... Whereas some might find them to be cute, whimsical, cozy, or endearing, others might find them to be kitschy or cheesy (Anderson, 2010). There is also a tradition in Western environmental ethics that sees aesthetic value as the main thing we're interested in when we talk about "protecting nature" (Carlson, 2000;Hettinger, 2008;Sober, 1986). These appeals to aesthetic value in environmental contexts can help explain why some might react so negatively to left traces, or to anything that might interrupt or impinge on aesthetic values in the landscape. ...
The National Park Service and many other federal, state, and local land managers in the US enjoin visitors to “leave no trace” when visiting parks and wilderness areas. At the same time, practices that involve leaving traces—painted rocks, rock cairns, and fairy houses—have become well established on some public lands. Public discussions reveal deep divides in how people view these traces in a time of increased pressures on public lands. This article develops an anthropological analysis of the practice of leaving traces at Mesa Verde National Park, in Colorado, and Machimoodus State Park, in Connecticut. Taking an approach that aligns with recent work on archaeologies of the contemporary, we interrogate the meaning of these material traces and consider how these practices of constructing cultural heritage in spaces perceived as “natural” provide a quasi‐archaeological experience and reenact colonialist processes.
... Although the in uence of education and prior experience on aesthetic appreciation of natural landscapes and properties has not been tested, it is evident that aesthetic appreciation in arts is signi cantly in uenced by complex webs of meaning derived from their self-hood, personal experience, and socio-cultural surroundings (Jorgensen 2011, Carlson 2005, Harland et al. 2000. Thus, increasing opportunities for interacting with nature (e.g., pets, plants, public parks, nature-based recreation) and environmental education can be a good strategy to shape urban residents' aesthetic perception. ...
Aesthetics is a crucial ecosystem service provided by biodiversity, which is believed to help improve humans’ quality of life and is linked to environmental consciousness and pro-environmental behaviors. However, how aesthetic experience induced by plants/animals influences the belief in the occurrence and significance of biodiversity loss among urban residents remains understudied. Thus, the current study aimed to examine how the diversity of pets and in-house plants affect urban residents’ belief in biodiversity loss in different scenarios of aesthetic experiences (positive and negative aesthetic experiences at home due to plants/animals). Using the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics on a dataset of 535 Vietnamese urban residents, we found that the people’s aesthetic feeling about their house induced by plants/animals positively affects their belief in the occurrence and significance of biodiversity loss. The diversity of plants and pets also positively influences the level of biodiversity loss belief, but the effect is conditional on the aesthetic experience of the urban residents. Specifically, the positive impact of species diversity on the belief only exists when urban residents feel that their houses’ aesthetics are negatively affected by plants/animals. Moreover, the effect of pet diversity on biodiversity loss belief is less significant and reliable than that of plant diversity. These findings suggest that raising the houses’ aesthetics through in-house planting or pet ownership can potentially enhance biodiversity loss belief and subsequently build an eco-surplus culture among urban residents.
... It also indicates the complexities involved in defining and understanding the concept and meaning of a zoo. Ecological art or land art can provide suitable models that could be used to understand the concept of zoos, as well as the "dialectical" relationship between nature and art [29]. Attempting to understand zoos while excluding natural or artistic considerations will lead to the omission of fundamental elements of the garden concept. ...
This article showcases zoological garden preservation as a concept caught in a continuing clash of ideals. Zoos are human-made interpretations of one's expectations and experiences with the natural environment. The dual roles that zoological gardens play, serving as preserves for both nature and culture, creates conflict regarding how to perceive them. It is unclear where the zoo falls in terms of preservation. The decision could be driven by architecture preservation, garden preservation, or animal conservation. The conflict is deepened by differences in values and attitudes regarding zoological gardens. The debate pertaining to the relocation of the only zoo in Kuwait in the Al-Omariya area exemplifies this, with discussions about whether we should regard it as a natural monument or a historic one. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire and an image survey at Al-Omariya residential community using an aesthetic theory approach to measure the residents' levels of attachment to several features of the zoo; to support the argument for or against its removal. We considered the respondents' opinions regarding changes at the zoo, the frequency of their visits there, and their residence proximity. Our findings indicate that there is a stronger level of attachment to the natural features in the zoo than that of the built environment.
... Relph (1996) introduced the design methods of Land art that apply multiple materials in the environmental spaces of nature and the city. Carlson (2002) mentioned that artists use the specific characteristics of cultures in their artworks of Land art. Saito (2002) studied Environmental directions for aesthetics and the arts. ...
... Menurut Dickie sikap tanpa pamrih seperti itu kurang tepat dan cacat, karena seni tidak hanya mengandung nilai estetik tetapi juga mengandung nilai lain yang tidak bisa didekati dengan sikap tanpa pamrih seperti itu (Carlson, 2000). Sontag, (1977) menjelaskan bahwa fotografi telah menjadi salah satu perangkat utama untuk mengalami sesuatu, untuk memberikan kesan partisipasi. ...
A work of art contains a stratified aesthetic element in accordance with the satisfaction of the human senses. Beauty is often directed at the object of the human body which is displayed tabooly in the form of "nude" and contains sexuality or intimacy. The work contains voyeuristic elements which often lead to negative perceptions or views and even behavioral deviations. disinterestedness attitude, thus, as answering the problem. the researcher tries to first explain the description of voyeuristic in a work of Newton's identical voyeuristic example. After that put forward a critical view of the use of disinterestedness attitude to interpret voyeuristic works. The method used is a phenomenological approach. The result of this analysis is the view of disinterestedness implying that selfless and selfless use can capture the value of the beauty of a work but in the existence of voyeuristic art it turns out that the effect is great if these two things are separated. Disinterestedness seems to encourage interpreters to create impersonal personalities in order to capture the "aesthetic" value of a work by capturing the other side of nudity. However, the value of a work cannot be separated from the truth it depicts.
This paper advances the suggestion that the garden (and gardening) may be a new ecological paradigm. Today’s environmental aesthetics and ethics are mainly interested in wild nature. It is argued that nature enclosed in national parks, which provides the main topic for contemporary aesthetic and ethical considerations, should be replaced with nature cultivated in gardens. The author claism that – theoretically and practically – we should treat the gardenas a model which makes it possible to reconsider the relationship between people and their natural environment. The article was first published in Aesthetics of Human Environment.VIII Ovsiannikov International Aesthetic Conference, ed. by. S. Dzikevich, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 2017, p. 32-45. I elaborated on this topic in Salwa 2020, 149-170; Salwa 2022; Frydryczak, Salwa 2022
Religious Philosophies and Environmental Ethics addresses the critical environmental crisis caused by human activity and examines how religious philosophies can contribute to solutions. The book explores the intersection of environmental ethics and religious thought, offering a fresh perspective on how spiritual beliefs might help guide humanity toward sustainable living. It examines the causes of environmental degradation, and various religious perspectives on the issue, and proposes faith-based solutions for a more harmonious relationship with nature. Through a blend of philosophical inquiry and practical application, the book aims to inspire change in how we approach environmental conservation. Key Features: - Explores the role of religious philosophies in solving environmental problems. - Discusses the ethical implications of environmental degradation. - Offers faith-based solutions for future sustainability. - Proposes a new framework for integrating religious thought into environmental policy.
Philosophers have failed to give a satisfactory analysis of the concept of the aesthetic. The attempt to analyze the concept faces two difficulties. The first is that aesthetic objects cannot be identified without knowing which experiences are aesthetic experiences and aesthetic experiences cannot be identified without knowing which objects are aesthetic objects. The second problem is that an incredibly broad range of experiences and objects are described as aesthetic. There is no principled way to choose between the various accounts of the aesthetic and philosophers end up offering persuasive definitions of the aesthetic. These definitions classify as aesthetic objects and experiences ones which philosophers believe are deserving of attention. These objects and experiences are, however, valuable in a wide variety of ways and calling them all aesthetic obscures differences between them. Finer-grained concepts than the concept of the aesthetic are needed to explain how various kinds of objects and experiences are valuable.
A partir de dos obras pertenecientes al land art (A circle in Huesca de Richard Long) y al body art (Psyché de Gina Pane) presentamos una lectura sobre la base del concepto rizoma, extraído de Deleuze-Guattari, que nos conducirá al de horizontalización. Con ello, imbricando arte y política, incidiremos en las implicaciones radicalmente democráticas de estas propuestas artísticas. Extraeremos tres funciones que comparten ambas: anti-jerarquía, inmediación y apertura. Enarbolando el concepto rizoma, tenderemos puentes entre las obras antedichas conjugando el análisis del ombligo en Gina Pane como centro y el perímetro de piedras de Richard Long como límite conectivo. El centro, símbolo de autoridad, eje vertebrador de un sistema cerrado, será diluido, esto es, criticado y destruido por el perímetro siempre abierto que convierte a toda frontera en porosa. En las conclusiones finales destacaremos la disolución del clásico-moderno paradigma sujeto-objeto y, sobre todo, la función del arte como señalización experiencial abogando por la comunicación abierta como eje de toda significación artística.
Este artículo tiene como objetivo fundamental analizar las bases de una apreciación estética de los animales en clave no antropomorfista, una con la que valorarlos en sus propios términos. Otras apreciaciones tienen un fundamento antropomórfico: la concepción de los animales desde el modelo artístico o desde nuestras necesidades evolutivas, por ejemplo. El contexto de esta investigación es doble: por una parte, la actitud antropomórfica dominante en la cultura moderna y, por otra, las nuevas iniciativas artísticas y culturales alejadas de la comprensión del ser humano como centro de todo lo que existe. La metodología empleada en este estudio es hermenéutica y dialéctica. Hermenéutica porque pretende, ante todo, comprender estas nuevas manifestaciones estéticas animalistas, y dialéctica porque para comprenderlas establecemos un debate crítico con las anteriores posiciones antropocentristas. La conclusión del trabajo es que la apreciación estética de los animales no antropomorfista solo puede fundarse en una ética animalista. Para lograrlo, es necesario, primero, tener conciencia de nuestra tendencia antropomórfica. Y, segundo, adoptar una ética empática que nos permita acceder al punto de vista de los animales, porque solo así podremos percibirlos en sí mismos.
El artículo es el resultado de una investigación realizada sobre la tesis del autor. Sobre la base de la investigación ya realizada se presenta una vivienda heterodoxa y distinta a cualquier otra. Y se homenajea a su autor: Fernando Higueras representa para la arquitectura española ese verso perdido lleno de creatividad que por su heterodoxia ha sido silenciado en demasía. Se trata del primer número de una revista científica que sin duda llegará a ser un referente. Sigue el formato de revisión por pares ciegos
The present paper falls within the field of ecocriticism, which problematizes literary and artistic activity from the point of view of the relationship between the human being (human nature) and nature (non-human), as expressed by and in works of art, including the theatre. Indeed, the theatre does not recreate nature, but nature constantly recreates the human being, whose sensitivity is affected by the drama and its effects. The risk of conceiving the world under the influence of ecology and of thinking about the environment differently is major. But what can we say when we talk about the theatre of the absurd? As a complex genre, structure, and style, is it capable of translating the complexity of nature? Is it possible to write or represent nature without at the same time inscribing the human domination over it? In what way is nature inscribed in the aesthetic forms of the theatrical work Rhinoceros? In Eugene Ionesco’s play, nature is denaturalized. The invasion of the beasts triggers a contagious and incurable rhinoceritis. The purpose of my paper is to re-read Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros from an ecological point of view and to demonstrate that the perception of nature in the theatre of the absurd can only be achieved by working on the perception of its aesthetic forms.
Fernando Higueras representa para la arquitectura española ese verso perdido lleno de creatividad que por su heterodoxia ha sido silenciado en demasía. Sin embargo, esa posición al margen de cualquier adscripción le ha permitido también no sufrir los embates de las modas y vigencias tan al uso en los ámbitos disciplinares del oficio. Su vivienda-estudio subterránea que él denomino “rascainfiernos” es un claro ejemplo de esta libertad sin concesiones. Transgresora, radical y a la vez coherente con las contingencias que la hicieron posible, con el paso del tiempo se presenta como una alternativa plausible a las exigencias climáticas a las que la arquitectura. El empleo de la paradoja en muchas de sus expresiones, como otro leguaje, denota el uso de una estética alternativa, negativa a la existente, una a-estética, que, en este caso, supone una arquitectura ausente, enterrada, eliminada en esa fusión con el medio en el que Higueras fue un precursor. Sorprendentemente el interior de esta vivienda ejemplar, se convierte en un exterior, idílico, climáticamente fuera de todo contexto como la propia casa que “podría ser Madrid o Ibiza”. Una negación de los parámetros que han determinado la arquitectura como objeto en una disolución en el entorno que la haga posible, permite trazar una hipótesis definitoria de otra ecología a la que estamos abocados. Higueras representa esta hipótesis, intuitiva, telúrica, como fue parte de su obra, pensando en el contexto para llegar al sujeto en el que todo cobra sentido. A otra arquitectura.
In landscape appreciation, what tourists directly perceive is the atmosphere of the landscape. This paper introduces the concept of “Ecological Structure” from Gernot Böhme’s theory of atmospheric aesthetics into the assessment of landscapes, utilizing atmosphere as a bridge between horticultural ecology, aesthetics, and culture. It examines the relationship between the objective environment and subjective perception. This study conducted a field survey of Xingqing Palace Park and selected the waterside plant landscape that directly reflects the atmosphere of the royal garden as the research object. In the first stage of this study, Scenic Beauty Estimation was used to evaluate the overall beauty of 32 landscape units; in the second stage, the Delphi method and Analytic Hierarchy Process were used to evaluate the ecological structures that affect the garden landscape atmosphere; in the third stage, the two evaluation results of the Kendall’s W concord coefficient test Analytic Hierarchy Process and Scenic Beauty Estimation have high consistency, which shows that the atmosphere is great value to the beauty of the landscape. This study provides designers with a means to create a garden atmosphere using ecological structures and provides new ideas for landscape design.
This study contributes to understanding pro-environmental behavior in toilet system adoption by examining the core values that inform decision-making processes. Undergraduates participated in an educational module on conventional and alternative wastewater systems, followed by composing essays envisioning their ideal toilet system for a future home. Qualitative analysis of responses established a codebook outlining the values students mention when describing their preferences. The identified values include: 1) Contributes to Something Good, 2) Uses Resources Wisely (water, nutrients, and money), 3) Practical (economical and easy to maintain), and 4) Avoids Causing Harm (environment and people). Findings suggest that students use emotional and cognitive domains in decision-making. The study suggests that, after learning about various wastewater systems, students do not adhere to the social norm of adopting conventional toilet systems. Students’ preference for systems designed to utilize human "waste" as a resource supports the literature on social change toward the widespread adoption of sustainable sanitation systems. Importantly, students view toilet systems as potential mitigators of harm and producers of something beneficial. We also show that the awareness of how a poorly designed and managed system could cause harm and the value of caring for the Earth may overcome the feeling of disgust associated with the social taboo related to human excrement. Our research can assist sustainability sanitation advocates and educators because it gives evidence that a group of people are motivated to adopt regenerative sanitation systems.
This chapter discusses the interrelations between creativity and the city from the new vantage points of urban aesthetics and sociology, which focus on the experience of city life and consider the “city” as a normative world as well. An interdisciplinary approach is useful for shedding light on often-neglected aspects of the creative urban life forms and lifeworld. The aim is to show how artistic creation, lifestyle, and values inspired new forms of creative work and urban lifestyles, which in turn reshaped all creative people's condition. The focus is on recent normative changes epitomised by two figures of the city: the “project-oriented city” defined by Boltanski and Chiapello (2005) as a new normative world, and the “creative city” hailed by Florida (2002, 2005) as a stage for everyday creativity/creative lifestyles. Both involve new ways of working and living that set the norms for society by fusing the cultures of creativity and uncertainty. The analysis shows that the extension of the hyper-mobile and flexible creative lifestyle from the extraordinary figure of the artist to ordinary people as a form of everyday urban life triggers both benefits and risks. These risks pose serious challenges to creativity-led urban development policies and their sustainability.
Naif Haddad, Fardous Al-Ajlouni, Leen Fakhoury, Khairieh Amro, 2023, Insights on landscaped Gardens of Desert culture: the Umayyad and the Nabataean, Virtual Reality inWorld Heritage Gardens: Andalusia - Sicily – Jordan,pp. 49-63, Project iHERITAGE: ITC Mediterranean platform for UNESCO Cultural Heritage ENI CBC Med Programme, ISBN: 13-978-84-96395-61-9
The paper investigates the billboardization of city entrances and the impact of this phenomenon on the integrity of the city and its cultural identity. The initial hypothesis is that the accumulation of billboards within city entrances creates visual pollution that causes multiple problems regarding the city’s culture, especially when it is located in a protected area. The paper strives to indicate the neglect of this space in the current urbanistic and socio-cultural narrative, and point out the newly formed region of reframed identity through the concept of the image of the city. The research moves through a case study of the Adriatic highway, the Jaz - Kotor section, namely the buffer zone of the protected Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor, in Montenegro. The aim of the paper is to point out the image of the city and to emphasize this urban space as a factor that disrupts the cultural identity of Kotor.
"In 2022, two cans of tomato soup were thrown over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London by two climate activists. The aim of this paper is not to explain the motives behind the protest in terms of environmental activism, but to address the implications of this phenomenon for the status of artistic images in our time. The protest in question is one of the many symptoms of the fact that images associated with a pure state of gaze have become morally dubious due to a certain moralistic turn in contemporary discourses on art. Consequently, what seems to be lost in today’s movements of moralizing aesthetics, whether in art or in environmental activism, is not only the “aura” of an artwork, but also the idea that the contemplation of beauty in and for itself would provide a foundation for humans’ moral vocation. In a gaseous state of art (Y. Michaud) in which the transient effects of things are more important than their essence, the moralistic tendencies combined with the lack of moral foundations can no longer conceive of the ethical effects of images without explicit moral content, thus calling for a new form of heteronomy in art. Keywords: Kantian aesthetics, ethics, contemplation, natural beauty, autonomy of art, environmental activism. "
"The importance of the justification of our beliefs is a long-debated question. The question of how our memory beliefs are justified, however, is a question we have usually neglected as our memory does not seem to draw much attention to itself. As long as it works, we do not even notice that we use it most of the time. In my opinion, the question of how our memory beliefs are justified, however, should play a bigger role in the philosophical debate. The reason for this claim is that most of our beliefs are memory beliefs. A position I will argue for in this paper. Based on empirical findings in Cognitive Science, I will explain that our memory is not only involved in forming beliefs about the past but more controversially in forming beliefs about the present, in reasoning processes and even more controversially in forming beliefs about the future. If beliefs about what has been, about what is the case in the present and even about what will have been the case in the future are memory beliefs, reconsidering our strict focus on the justification of mere beliefs seems to be a change in debate worth considering. Keywords: Memory, Philosophy of Memory, Belief, Cognitive Science, Epistemology of Memory, Philosophy of Cognitive Science"
Although somewhat marginal in relation to the other senses, smell is the most potent way of anchoring ourselves to the world. We subconsciously find our place in it by sniffing our body, the body of the one next to us, the room in which we are, the culture with which we are familiar. There is an incessant olfactory flow consisting of bodies, human and nonhuman, that are agents of generation, consumption, diffusion, reproduction and dissolution of odours. As they move or pause, as they cluster with others or try to move away, these bodies constantly partake in this olfactory flow, this dense planetary swirl that leaves nothing outside. The law aims at presenting itself as rational and objective. Smell, on the other hand, is one of the least integrated senses in the legal edifice, in comparison to, say, seeing and hearing. This can be attributed mainly to the fact that sense-making of smell and law are different, even antithetical. Smell operates undercurrent, tickling the olfactory antennas of individual and collective bodies while habitually hiding behind other sensory volumes. Law, on the other hand, has an interest in appearing present, universal, constant. Olfactory sense-making relies on its elusiveness; legal sense-making invests in its obviousness. Yet, the two can interact in most unexpected ways, as this volume amply shows. If anything, smell airs the way in which law conceptualises and contextualises its own actuality. Smell brings law forth by allowing it to show its underbelly, its elusive sense-making that is invariably sacrificed in preference to the necessity of legal impressions of constancy. However, smell’s fragmentary, discontinuous and unstable nature, despite all the ordering that goes to it, poses a peculiar challenge to the law. This volume sets out to investigate this juncture.
The essentials of prevailing models of conservation are summarized in order to illustrate what a shift to life-form conservation would entail. The essential change comes with attention to the implications of the language-games of “good,” “bad” “right,” “wrong,” etc., and the ‘thicker,’ more specific terms like ‘cruel’ or ‘respectful’ that fill these out in specific contexts.
O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar, a partir dos conceitos de “território”, “desterritorialização” e “reterritorialização” dos filósofos franceses Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari, os termos “natureza” e “artifício” na sua possível relação com os domínios do pensamento e das práticas artísticas atuais. Em diálogo com estes, procurar- se-á entender o modo como as esferas de produção e “artealização” da arte existem mergulhadas num “continuum” de fluxos, permutas, contaminações e interferências entre ambos os territórios – o natural e o artificial –, tornando- se, simbólica e conceptualmente, numa alternativa(s) a essa histórica polarização entre os termos ou, como diria o filósofo francês Clément Rosset, uma forma de “naturalização do ser humano através da desnaturalização da ideia de natureza” e vice-versa.
Palavras-chave: territórios impossíveis; natureza e artifício; desterritorialização e reterritorialização; arte; prática artística.
Our everyday lifeworlds, the environments in which we spend our daily lives, in which we exercise agency and control and to which we are bound through practical knowledge and routines, receive little attention in contemporary climate ethics. This is unfortunate, as climate ethics can benefit from an in-depth analysis of the lifeworld-perspective—especially when it comes to evaluating the individual’s role in the face of climate change. This paper focuses on two key problems, the problem of individual climate responsibility and the problem of the individual’s motivation to support climate protection policies. Currently discussed strategies to solve both problems face serious objections. A lifeworld-oriented perspective, so I argue, helps us to better understand both problems as well as the reasons why they are practically resistant to solutions proposed in the philosophical literature. My main claim is that climate change’s serious consequences cannot be experienced in the current everyday lifeworlds of most people who live in the Western hemisphere. In consequence, appeals to conscience lack adequate grounding in everyday contexts. These contexts, however, have a decisive impact on the individual’s motivation and moral behavior. Based on this critique, I give some suggestions how the problems of individual responsibility and motivation could be handled from a lifeworld-oriented perspective.
This article examines the ideas of ‘aesthetic pleasure’ and ‘aesthetic appreciation of nature’ in the Anthropocene. In the framework of the current ecological crisis, the anthropogenic roots of which are today beyond dispute, are the aesthetic categories of ‘beautiful’, ‘sublime’, ‘majestic’ etc. still appropriate to describe our experience of nature? Can a landscape – or an animal or a plant – which have undergone changes and modifications due to climate change (a human-induced phenomenon) still be considered beautiful? More generally, is the idea of nature as an object of aesthetic contemplation still legitimate in the Anthropocene?
Artikkeli tarkastelee audiovisuaalisia kerronnantapoja, joilla fiktiivinen elokuva kuvaa ja tuottaa ihmisen affektiivista luontosuhdetta länsimaisessa kulttuurissa väheksytyssä suoympäristössä. Analyysin kohteena on Suon villi laulu -elokuva (Where the Crawdads Sing, USA 2022). Artikkelin tutkimukselliset lähtökohdat ovat ympäristöestetiikan ja ekokritiikin teorioissa. Taustalla vaikuttavat amerikkalaisen luontokirjoittamisen traditio ja positiivinen luonnonestetiikka. Elokuvan tapahtumapaikkana on syrjäinen marskimaa, johon liittyvät marginaalisen paikan merkitykset muokkaavat suhdetta esitettyyn luontoon. Suon villin laulun kerrontaa tarkastellaan toisaalta suhteessa elokuvan taustalla olevan romaanin (Delia Owens, 2018) kerrontaan ja toisaalta luonnon esittämisen tapoihin luontoelokuvissa.Tarkastelussa sovelletaan jälkikäteisen käsikirjoittamisen ideaa, jossa huomioidaan luontoon liittyvien käsitysten diskursiivisuus ja konstruktiivisuus. Menetelmänä tämä tarkoittaa niiden tapojen havainnoimista ja jäsentämistä, joilla audiovisuaalisen kerronnan yksityiskohdat ovat vuorovaikutuksessa toisiinsa ja toimivat merkityksiä luovina elementteinä. Elokuvan katsojan kokemus syntyy sanallisista ja affektiivisten, aistien ja tunteiden välittämistä merkityksistä. Artikkelissa esitetään, että luontorakkaus on käsikirjoitettu elokuvaan kaikin aistein ja suhteessa luonnon esittämisen konventioihin niin, että ne voivat herättää myös katsojassa rakkautta luontoa kohtaan. Luonto tarjoillaan elokuvassa eskapistisena turvasatamana; rakkautta sitä kohtaan eivät samenna ympäristöhuolet.Avainsanat: affektiivinen luontosuhde, audiovisuaalinen kerronta, ekokritiikki, marginaalinen ympäristö, ympäristöestetiikkaLoving a Marginal Place: Affective Human-Nature Relationship in the Film Where the Crawdads SingThe article examines the audiovisual narratives through which fictional cinema depicts but also produces the affective relationship of humans to nature in a wetland environment that is disparaged in Western culture. The analysis focuses on the film Where the Crawdads Sing (USA 2022). The article is based on the theories of environmental aesthetics and ecocriticism, drawing inspiration from the tradition of American nature writing and the positive aesthetics of nature.The film takes place in a remote marshland, where the meanings of a marginal place shape the relationship with the represented nature. The narrative of Where the Crawdads Sing is examined in relation to the narrative of the novel on which the film is based (Delia Owens, 2018) on the one hand, and the ways in which nature is represented in nature films on the other.The study applies the idea of retrospective scriptwriting, which takes into account the discursive and constructed quality of conceptions of nature. As a method, this means observing and structuring how the details of the audiovisual narrative interact with each other and act as meaning-making elements. The viewer’s experience of a film is created by the meaning conveyed by the textual and affective senses and emotions. The article proposes that the love of nature is scripted into the film with all the senses and in relation to the conventions of nature representation, allowing them to evoke a love of nature also in the spectator. Nature in the film is presented as an escapist sanctuary; love for it is not overshadowed by environmental concerns.Keywords: affective human-nature relationship; audiovisual narrative; ecocriticism; environmental aesthetics; marginal environment
This chapter examines the ethical dimensions of sustainable development within the context of climate change education. It explores the intersection of philosophy, logistics, and climate change education. The chapter sheds light on ethical implications and considerations arising in pursuing sustainable development. It seeks to provide valuable insights for climate change analysts, policymakers, curriculum and instructional designers, faculty, administrators, teacher educators, and other stakeholders interested in averting the impact of climate change and fostering sustainable development.
From time immemorial, birds have been considered to represent a variety of symbols, depending on their attributes and behaviour. Birds might epitomise spirituality, life, death, peace or conflict. This article deals with the traditional beliefs, myths and practices of the Batswana regarding certain birds, such as the mmamasiloanoka (hamerkop/hammerhead), kgoadira (fish eagle) tladi (lightning bird), tlhatlhamedupe (Jacobin cuckoo bird), leeba/lephoi (dove), lenong (vulture), legakabe (crow) and morubisi (owl) that feature prominently in their biosphere. The Batswana composed songs, poems, dramas, performances, folktales and proverbs about these birds, contending that religious value can culturally be attributed to the activities of these birds, in so far as their exertions and stories about them concern human experiences such as distress, happiness or strong belief. This research will use a qualitative method to analyse Setswana literature about the birds. The theory of critical discourse analysis is employed to enhance knowledge creation. The study demonstrated that religious value can culturally be attributed to the activities of these birds.
Images of nature abound in the practice of international environmental law but their significance in law is unclear. Drawing on visual jurisprudence, and interpretative methods for visual art, this book analyses photographs for their representations of nature's aesthetic value in treaty processes that concern world heritage, whales and biodiversity. It argues that visual images should be embraced in the prosaic practice of international law. Particularly for treaties that demand judgements of nature's aesthetic value. This environmental value is in practice conflated with natural beauty, ethical and cultural values, and displaced by economic and scientific values. Interpretations of visual images can serve instead to critique and conceive sensory, imaginative and emotional appreciations of nature from different cultural perspectives as proposed by philosophers of environmental aesthetics. Addressing questions of value and the visual, this landmark book shows how images can be engaged by nations to better protect the environment under international law.
This article examines what kinds of expressions the human-nature relationship in mire environments have taken in the context of imagined swamp creature narratives, and what the presence of swamp monsters reveals about the wider changes in the human-nature relationship in mires and other wetlands. The theoretical framework of this study is based on environmental humanities, including environmental aesthetics and ecocritical theory. The analysis deals with a range of fictional narratives (comic books, TV-series, literature for adults and children, and video performances) and folklore which feature diverse swamp creatures. Mires have often been considered as strange and fearsome, and both mires and monsters are linked to anomalies and burdened by negative preconceptions. However, attitudes towards mires have slowly changed. For example, along with monsters who sometimes transform into heroes or non-human friends, people’s fears of unpredictable mires are now transforming into fears for these unique environments. In conclusion, the imagined swamp creatures reflect the human-nature relationship of the mires, and at the same time, actively transform it.
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