Published February 3, 2014 | Version v1
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The Cultural Aesthetics of Environment

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Description

Environmental concerns have a global scope, yet different cultural traditions, philosophical cultures, and conditions of life influence the way we understand experience and environment.  A similar understanding of the central ideas is needed for cooperative action on environmental issues to be effective.  The first part of this essay is conceptual and proposes a common understanding of ‘environment,’ ‘ecology,’ and ‘aesthetics.’  The second part develops the aesthetic side of the matter by identifying some representative cultural patterns of sensibility.  It considers whether and how these patterns may be reconciled in order to enhance the effectiveness of our responses to environmental issues.

Notes

A revised version of "Ideas for an Ecological Aesthetics," in Xiangzhan Cheng, Arnold Berleant, Paul Gobster, Xinhao Wang, eds., Ecological Aesthetics and Ecological Assessment and Planning, 2014. Chapter 11 in Arnold Berleant, Aesthetics beyond the Arts (Farnham, UK & Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2012). DOI: 10.17613/M6639K484

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References

  • Justus Buchler, The Metaphysics of Natural Complexes (New York: Columbia University Press, 1966); 2nd ed. (New York: State University of New York Press, 1990).
  • Val Plumwood, Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason (London and New York: Routledge, 2002).
  • Arnold Berleant, The Aesthetics of Environment (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992).
  • Cheng Xiangzhan, "Environmental Aesthetics and Ecological Aesthetics: Arnold Berleant's Impact on Ecological Aesthetics in China," Sztuka i Filosofia 37 (2011): 24–35 (in Polish).
  • Genesis 1:28-29.
  • Plato, The Republic V, 475–480; VI–VII.
  • Zeng Fanren, "A Conception of Ecological Aesthetics in the Perspective of Today's Ecological Civilization," Literary Review 4 (2005).
  • Zeng Fanren, "A Review on the Relationship between Ecological Aesthetics and Environmental Aesthetics," Exploration and Free Views 9 (2008).
  • Zeng Fanren, Collected Articles on Aesthetics of Ecological Existence, 2nd ed. (Changchun: Jilin People's Press, 2003).