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376Aesthetics 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 appr…Read more
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327Appreciation and the natural environmentJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 37 (3): 267-275. 1979.
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315Nature and positive aestheticsEnvironmental Ethics 6 (1): 5-34. 1984.Positive aesthetics holds that the natural environment, insofar as it is unaffected by man, has only positive aesthetic qualities and value-that virgin nature is essentially beautiful. In spite of the initial implausibility of this position, it is nonetheless suggested by many individuals who have given serious thought to the natural environment and to environmental philosophy. Certain attempts to defend theposition involve claiming either that it is not implausible because our appreciation of n…Read more
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163Nature, aesthetic appreciation, and knowledgeJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 53 (4): 393-400. 1995.
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162Nature, aesthetic judgment, and objectivityJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 40 (1): 15-27. 1981.
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148Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature and EnvironmentalismRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 69 137-155. 2011.This article is a response to yuriko saito's "is there a correct aesthetic appreciation of nature?" (jae 18:4) which challenges the position on the aesthetic appreciation of nature that i develop in a series of recent articles. i here consider saito's arguments, concluding that they neither establish the correctness of a wide range of kinds of aesthetic appreciations of nature nor undercut the grounds for the prominence i grant to scientific considerations in such appreciation
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138Nature and Landscape: An Introduction to Environmental AestheticsColumbia University Press. 2009.The development and nature of environmental aesthetics -- Aesthetic appreciation and the natural environment -- The requirements for an adequate aesthetics of nature -- Aesthetic appreciation and the human environment -- Appreciation of the human environment under different conceptions -- Aesthetic appreciation and the agricultural landscape -- What is the correct way to aesthetically appreciate landscapes?
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124Nature and Positive AestheticsEnvironmental Ethics 6 (1): 5-34. 1984.Positive aesthetics holds that the natural environment, insofar as it is unaffected by man, has only positive aesthetic qualities and value-that virgin nature is essentially beautiful. In spite of the initial implausibility of this position, it is nonetheless suggested by many individuals who have given serious thought to the natural environment and to environmental philosophy. Certain attempts to defend theposition involve claiming either that it is not implausible because our appreciation of n…Read more
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123New formalism and the aesthetic appreciation of natureJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62 (4). 2004.Recently, several authors have defended a new version of formalism in the aesthetics of nature and attempted to refute earlier arguments against the doctrine. In this essay, we assess this new formalism by reconsidering the force of antiformalist arguments against both traditional formalism and new formalism. While we find that these arguments remain effective against traditional formalism, new formalism falls largely beyond their scope. We therefore provide a novel line of argument for the insi…Read more
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118Budd and Brady on the Aesthetics of Nature (review)Philosophical Quarterly 55 (218). 2005.This essay is a critical notice of Malcolm Budd's _The Aesthetics of Nature (Oxford, 2002) and Emily Brady's _Aesthetics of the Natural Environment (Edinburgh, 2003). I argue that, although each of the volumes makes an important contribution to our understanding of the aesthetic experience of nature, the accounts of aesthetic appreciation of nature that are developed by Budd and Brady are each somewhat defective in that neither grants an adequate role to knowledge in such appreciation, and speci…Read more
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114Contemporary Environmental Aesthetics and the Requirements of EnvironmentalismEnvironmental Values 19 (3). 2010.Since aesthetic experience is vital for the protection of nature, I address the relationship between environmental aesthetics and environmentalism. I first review two traditional positions, the picturesque approach and formalism. Some environmentalists fault the modes of aesthetic appreciation associated with these views, charging they are anthropocentric, scenery-obsessed, superficial, subjective, and/or morally vacuous. In light of these apparent failings of traditional aesthetics of nature, I…Read more
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107On the aesthetic appreciation of japanese gardensBritish Journal of Aesthetics 37 (1): 47-56. 1997.
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106The Aesthetics of Human Environments (edited book)Broadview Press. 2007.The Aesthetics of Human Environments is a companion volume to Carlson's and Berleant's The Aesthetics of Natural Environments. Whereas the earlier collection focused on the aesthetic appreciation of nature, The Aesthetics of Human Environments investigates philosophical and aesthetics issues that arise from our engagement with human environments ranging from rural landscapes to urban cityscapes. Our experience of public spaces such as shopping centers, theme parks, and gardens as well as the imp…Read more
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105Environmental Aesthetics, Ethics, and EcoaestheticsJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76 (4): 399-410. 2018.This essay is an overview of recent research aimed at establishing a link between environmental aesthetics and environmental ethics. I review the work of several prominent environmental philosophers and environmental aestheticians, spelling out some of the difficulties confronting various attempts to find such a link. While I argue that a case can be made for a connection between environmental aesthetics and environmental ethics concerning human‐created and human‐influenced environments, I find …Read more
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89Is Environmental Art an Aesthetic Affront to Nature?Canadian Journal of Philosophy 16 (4). 1986.In this discussion I consider one aesthetic issue which arises from certain intimate relationships between art and nature. The background to these relationships can be traced to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It includes factors of considerable importance in the history of the aesthetic appreciation of nature such as the eighteenth century infatuation with landscape gardening and the continuingly influential role of landscape painting. Here, however, I concentrate on these relationshi…Read more
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88The aesthetic appreciation of environmental architecture under different conceptions of environmentJournal of Aesthetic Education 40 (4): 77-88. 2006.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Journal of Aesthetic Education 40.4 (2006) 77-88 MuseSearchJournalsThis JournalContents[Access article in PDF]The Aesthetic Appreciation of Environmental Architecture under Different Conceptions of EnvironmentAllen CarlsonIntroductionIn what is in retrospect easily recognized as one of the three or four truly groundbreaking essays in environmental aesthetics, Francis Sparshott distinguishes a number of different ways of conceptua…Read more
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85The Requirements for An Adequate Aesthetics of NatureEnvironmental Philosophy 4 (1-2): 1-13. 2007.This essay presents a methodological framework for assessing the adequacy of philosophical accounts of the aesthetic appreciation of nature. The framework involves five requirements, each of which is labeled after a philosopher who has defended it. They are called Ziff's Anything Viewed Doctrine, Budd's As Nature Constraint, Berleant's Unified Aesthetics Requirement, Hepburn's Serious Beauty Intuition, and Thompson's Objectivity Desideratum. The conclusion of the essay is that most contemporary …Read more
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65Nature, Aesthetics, and Environmentalism: From Beauty to Duty (edited book)Columbia University Press. 2008.The essays in the final section explicitly bring together aesthetics, ethics, and environmentalism to explore the ways in which each might affect the others.
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53The Aesthetics of Natural Environments (edited book)Broadview Press. 2004.The Aesthetics of Natural Environments is a collection of essays investigating philosophical and aesthetics issues that arise in our appreciation of natural environments. The introduction gives an historical and conceptual overview of the rapidly developing field of study known as environmental aesthetics. The essays consist of classic pieces as well as new contributions by some of the most prominent individuals now working in the field and range from theoretical to applied approaches. The topic…Read more
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49Environmental AestheticsStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2020.Environmental aesthetics is a relatively new sub-field ofphilosophical aesthetics. It arose within analytic aesthetics in thelast third of the twentieth century. Prior to its emergence,aesthetics within the analytic tradition was largely concerned withphilosophy of art. Environmental aesthetics originated as a reactionto this emphasis, pursuing instead the investigation of the aestheticappreciation of natural environments. Since its early stages, thescope of environmental aesthetics has broadene…Read more
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45On appreciating agricultural landscapesJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 43 (3): 301-312. 1985.
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41Placing Nature: Culture and Landscape Ecology (review)Environmental Ethics 22 (2): 211-214. 2000.
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41Review: Budd and Brady on the Aesthetics of Nature (review)Philosophical Quarterly 55 (218). 2005.This essay is a critical notice of Malcolm Budd's _The Aesthetics of Nature (Oxford, 2002) and Emily Brady's _Aesthetics of the Natural Environment (Edinburgh, 2003). I argue that, although each of the volumes makes an important contribution to our understanding of the aesthetic experience of nature, the accounts of aesthetic appreciation of nature that are developed by Budd and Brady are each somewhat defective in that neither grants an adequate role to knowledge in such appreciation, and speci…Read more