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Full-Text Articles in Philosophy
Wangheng Chen’S Chinese Environmental Aesthetics, Arnold Berleant
Wangheng Chen’S Chinese Environmental Aesthetics, Arnold Berleant
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
No abstract provided.
In Defense Of Cities: On Negative Presentation Of Urban Areas In Environmental Preference Studies, Anu Besson
In Defense Of Cities: On Negative Presentation Of Urban Areas In Environmental Preference Studies, Anu Besson
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
This paper critiques a common research method, image-based studies, in assessing environmental references. The method is used, in particular, in the fields of environmental psychology, landscape studies, and health studies, here called empirical environmental preference studies or EEP studies. I argue that the established view in the EEP field that nature is inherently experienced as more aesthetically appealing and restorative than urban environments may be biased because of the image-based method. This paper presents a literature review of EEP studies, discussing them in a framework of environmental and everyday aesthetics. The conclusion is that EEP studies may strip cities of …
Imaginative Intersections: Engaging Aesthetic Experience At The Shofuso Japanese House, Peter L. Doebler
Imaginative Intersections: Engaging Aesthetic Experience At The Shofuso Japanese House, Peter L. Doebler
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
This essay explores how the imagination creates dynamic aesthetic experiences by negotiating the intersection of opposites. The goal is to enrich our thinking about the relation of nature and art within a more comprehensive environmental aesthetics. I focus on a single example, the intersections created by the particular experience of space and time in the paintings of Hiroshi Senju, at the Shofuso Japanese House in Philadelphia. First, I provide a brief introduction to Senju and the work at Shofuso. Next, building on perspectives from within environmental aesthetics and Senju’s own writings, I sketch out a framework for thinking about the …
Building A Paradise? On The Quest For The Optimal Human Habitat, Anu Besson
Building A Paradise? On The Quest For The Optimal Human Habitat, Anu Besson
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Do humans have a natural habitat? If yes, is it the original habitat of early hominids or the most optimal environment for today’s humans? Are these two the same thing and, if not, what does ‘optimal habitat’ mean? I examine the concept of the optimal habitat from four viewpoints: 1) paradise; 2) urban design based on environmental psychology; 3) favorite places; and 4) environment as an invitation for action. I conclude that an optimal habitat is not a collection of more or less fixed elements but an environment that can be experienced as a beneficial feedback loop based on and …
The Aesthetic Appreciation Of Animals In Zoological Parks, Marta Tafalla
The Aesthetic Appreciation Of Animals In Zoological Parks, Marta Tafalla
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Can we appreciate in a serious and deep way the aesthetic qualities of wild species in exemplars held captive for exhibition in the artificial installations of a zoo? To answer this question I invoke theories concerning the aesthetic appreciation of nature propounded by Yuriko Saito and Allen Carlson. I then argue that zoos impose their story on animals, thereby preventing us from appreciating the animals on their own terms. I claim that captivity and its effects on the health, behavior, and appearance of animals make serious and deep appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of wild species impossible.
Explication Of Events And Dialogues In Samuel Beckett’S Waiting For Godot, Erick Verran
Explication Of Events And Dialogues In Samuel Beckett’S Waiting For Godot, Erick Verran
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
No abstract provided.
From Things To Relationships: Architecture Of The Ecological Mind, Lejla Vujicic
From Things To Relationships: Architecture Of The Ecological Mind, Lejla Vujicic
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
No abstract provided.
Thoughts On A Holographic Aesthetics Of Nature, Tom Baugh
Thoughts On A Holographic Aesthetics Of Nature, Tom Baugh
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
No abstract provided.
Longing For Clouds - Does Beautiful Weather Have To Be Fine?, Mădălina Diaconu
Longing For Clouds - Does Beautiful Weather Have To Be Fine?, Mădălina Diaconu
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Any attempt to outline a meteorological aesthetics centered on so-called beautiful weather has to overcome several difficulties: In everyday life, the appreciation of the weather is mostly related to practical interests or reduced to the ideal of stereotypical fine weather that is conceived according to blue-sky thinking irrespective of climate diversity. Also, an aesthetics of fine weather seems, strictly speaking, to be impossible given that such weather conditions usually allow humans to focus on aspects other than weather, which contradicts the autotelic character of beauty. The unreflective equation of beautiful weather with moderately sunny weather and a cloudless sky also …
Public Aquariums And Marine Aesthetics, Nola Semczyszyn
Public Aquariums And Marine Aesthetics, Nola Semczyszyn
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Given the inaccessibility of the marine environment, the closest many of us come to viewing it is at public aquariums. Aquariums also provide us with rich aesthetic experiences, but it is not clear whether we appreciate the marine environment at aquariums. I present the dilemma of aquarium appreciation as an inconsistent triad: 1) we treat aquariums as places to appreciate marine environments, 2) aquariums are artifacts, not natural objects, and 3) nature and art should be appreciated differently. I argue that aquarium displays are scientific models of marine environments with aesthetic, educational, and scientific aims. My solution to the dilemma …
Beauty Or Bane: Advancing An Aesthetic Appreciation Of Wind Turbine Farms, Tyson-Lord J. Gray
Beauty Or Bane: Advancing An Aesthetic Appreciation Of Wind Turbine Farms, Tyson-Lord J. Gray
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
I begin this paper by looking at declining wind turbine sales during the years 2007 to 2010. In an attempt to locate a reason for this decline, I evaluate two claims by wind farm opponents: 1) that wind farms reduce property value, and 2) that wind farms ruin the beauty of nature. The first claim I respond to by looking at three studies conducted on residential property sales located near wind farms. For the second claim, I engage in a comparison of Immanuel Kant’s and John Dewey’s aesthetics. I ultimately advance an aesthetic appreciation of wind farms that seeks to …
From Environmental Aesthetics To Narratives Of Change, Nathalie Blanc
From Environmental Aesthetics To Narratives Of Change, Nathalie Blanc
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Environmental aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that originated in the English-speaking world and is developing in France. It aims to take a new look at how relationships with the environment are constructed. Often addressed from a landscaping, technical or scientific angle, such relationships have remained largely unaddressed from a cultural perspective, i.e., one that includes a series of practices and values that represent a human group. In this article, I will address environmental aesthetics and how they point up tensions between fixed and static visual representations of the environment in the future and representations that can accommodate ordinary encounters, …
The Aesthetic Dissonance Of Industrial Wind Machines, Jon Boone
The Aesthetic Dissonance Of Industrial Wind Machines, Jon Boone
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Yuriko Saito recently published an essay in this journal, "Machines in the Ocean: The Aesthetics of Wind Farms" (Contemporary Aesthetics, 2 (2004)). The bulk of her essay is a search for the right aesthetic justification for wind plants sited in the ocean as well as for those onshore. Because wind power does not emit toxins into the air and its source of energy is recurrent, it offers the promise of a clean, renewable alternative to fossil fuels. The central problem with harnessing any form of energy is that enormous energies are wasted in the process of producing and channeling a …
Learning From Venice, Max Ryynänen
Learning From Venice, Max Ryynänen
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
What role does arrival play in our aesthetic interaction with a city? Traveling to Venice drastically changed following the building of the railway. The way the city was perceived was wholly altered. The facade of Venice moved from the harbor to the railway station, without any changes being made to the city itself or its architecture. How did this change Venice and how did it change visiting it, and what can we learn from this case?
How To Speak Of Nature? The Exemplary Position Of Mount Koli In Environmental Research, Yrjö Sepänmaa
How To Speak Of Nature? The Exemplary Position Of Mount Koli In Environmental Research, Yrjö Sepänmaa
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Mount Koli in Eastern Finland is a useful example for environmental aesthetics and landscape research. In case studies, an example represents a general set and the conclusion becomes a precedent. Koli provides a wealth of material: descriptions of local nature, art featuring Koli, and documents concerning the environmental debates around it. One can outline both the development of Koli into a culturally significant location and the activities and policies of the process, as well as the values and appreciations that guided them. The material we have can be used to examine an environmental institution designed to have the structure of …