A Response to Emily Brady's ‘Aesthetic Regard for Nature in Environmental and Land Art’

Bibliographic Data

ID12596337
AuthorsJason Boaz Simus (University of North Texas, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume10
Issue3
Pages301-305
Publication date2007-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthics Place & Environment (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1366-879X • E-ISSN: 1469-6703
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13668790701549505
OpenAlexW2016255269
LanguageEN
References cited29

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Notes 1 For a discussion of the practical and pedagogical value of environmental artworks, see Rosenthal (2003 Rosenthal, A. 2003. Teaching systems thinking and practice through environmental art. Ethics and the Environment, 8: 153–168. [Google Scholar]). 2 Donald Crawford notes that critics of environmental art assert that works like Christo's constitute aesthetic affronts, but Crawford himself does not (Crawford, 1983 Crawford, D. 1983. Art and nature: some dialectical relationships. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 42: 57 [Google Scholar]). 3 Stan Godlovitch uses the term 'primordial innocence' (Godlovitch 1998b Godlovitch, S. 1998b. Offending against nature. Environmental Values, 7: 144 [Google Scholar], p. 144). 4 See Pickett et al. (1992 Pickett, STA, Parker, VT and Fielder, PL. 1992. "The new paradigm in ecology: implications for conservation above the species level". In Conservation Biology: The Theory and Practice of Nature Conservation, Preservation, and Management, Edited by: Fielder, P. L. and Jai, S. K. 261–278. New York: Chapman & Hall. [Google Scholar]); Botkin (1990 Botkin, D. 1990. Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the Twenty-first Century, New York: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]); Pickett & White (1985 Pickett, STA and White, PS. 1985. The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics, 261–278. Orlando, FL: Academic Press. [Google Scholar]); and Simus (in press). 5 Scientific cognitivism is the view (defended by Carlson) that appropriate aesthetic appreciation of nature must be informed by scientific knowledge (i.e., biology, ecology, natural history, etc.) just as appropriate aesthetic appreciation of art must be informed by knowledge of art history and theory in his 'Appreciation and the natural environment' (Carlson, 1979 Carlson, A. 1979. Appreciation and the natural environment. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 37: 267–276. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). For more on scientific cognitivism as discussed by other authors, see Callicott (1987 Callicott, J. 1987. "The land aesthetic". In Companion to a Sand County Almanac: Interpretive and Critical Essays, Edited by: Baird Callicott, J. 157–171. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. [Google Scholar]); Fudge (2001 Fudge, R. 2001. Imagination and the science-based aesthetic appreciation of unscenic nature. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 59: 275–285. [Google Scholar]); Matthews (2002 Matthews, P. 2002. Scientific knowledge and the aesthetic appreciation of nature. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 60: 37–48. [Google Scholar]); Parsons (2002 Parsons, G. 2002. Nature appreciation, science, and positive aesthetics. British Journal of Aesthetics, 42: 279–295. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2006 Parsons, G. 2006. Theory, observation, and the role of scientific understanding in the aesthetic appreciation of nature. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 36: 165–186. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]); and Rolston III (1995 Rolston III, H. 1995. Does aesthetic appreciation of landscapes need to be science-based?. British Journal of Aesthetics, 35: 374–386. [Google Scholar]). 6 Carlson's view is that 'the general way in which environmental artists alter nature's aesthetic qualities by turning nature into art does seem to support its being an affront to nature' (Carlson, 1986a Carlson, A. 1986a. Is environmental art an aesthetic affront to nature?. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 16: 635–650. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], p. 155). 7 See Walton (1970 Walton, K. 1970. Categories of art. Philosophical Review, 79: 334–367. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 8 For more on positive aesthetics, see Carlson (1984 Carlson, A. 1984. Nature and positive aesthetics. Environmental Ethics, 6: 5–34. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2002 Carlson, A. 2002. "Nature appreciation and the question of aesthetic relevance". In Environment and the Arts: Perspectives on Environmental Aesthetics, Edited by: Berleant, A. 62–75. Aldershot: Ashgate. [Google Scholar]); Rolston III (1998 Rolston III, H. 1998. Environmental Ethics: Duties to and Values in the Natural World, Philadelphia: Temple University Press. [Google Scholar], ch. 6); Hargrove (1989 Hargrove, E. 1989. Foundation of Environmental Ethics, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. [Google Scholar], ch. 6; 2002 Hargrove, E. 2002. Carlson and the aesthetic appreciation of nature. Philosophy and Geography, 5: 213–223. [Google Scholar]); Thompson (1995 Thompson, J. 1995. Aesthetics and the value of nature. Environmental Ethics, 17: 291–305. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]); Godlovitch (1998a Godlovitch, S. 1998a. Evaluating nature aesthetically. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 56: 113–125. [Google Scholar], 1998b Godlovitch, S. 1998b. Offending against nature. Environmental Values, 7: 144 [Google Scholar]); Saito (1998 Saito, Y. 1998. The aesthetics of unscenic nature. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 56: 101–111. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]); and Budd (2000 Budd, M. 2000. The aesthetics of nature. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 100: 137–157. [Google Scholar]). 9 See John Stuart Mill's 'harm principle' in his On Liberty (Mill, 1985 Mill, JS. 1985. On Liberty, Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar])

Art · Art history · Biology · Counterculture · Criticism · Environmental ethics · Literature · Sociology · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Philosophy · Urban Green Space and Health · Ecology

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