Readings for
Philosophy 450: Senior Seminar on Natural Beauty
Ned Hettinger, Spring 2008
I. INTRODUCTORY AND PRELIMINARIES
A. Why Environmental Aesthetics (& What Is It?)
1. Introductory class
2. Three readings
a. Fisher and Hettinger, “Draft Chap 1: Why Environmental Aesthetics?” (3)
i. Available on class web page at: https://www.cofc.edu/hettinger/Natural_Beauty/Ch_1_Why_Env_Aes.htm
b. Leopold’s “Conservation Esthetic,” A Sand County Almanac (1949) pp. 256-269.
i. For an explanation and analysis of Leopold’s land aesthetics see, J. Baird Callicott "Leopold's Land Aesthetics," In Defense of the Land Ethic (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989).
c. Ronald Hepburn “Contemporary Aesthetics and the Neglect of Natural Beauty” in Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleant, The Aesthetics of Natural Environments (Broadview Press, 2004)
i. Available on the College Library’s E-reserves under Philosophy 280 “Aesthetics” and Hettinger. Password: hettinger
d. Recommended Additional Readings:
i. For the shear aesthetic pleasure of encountering wild nature, see John Muir at https://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/ (Look under “quotes”
ii. Carlson, A. (1992). "Environmental Aesthetics," in D. Cooper (ed.) A Companion to Aesthetics. Oxford: Blackwell, 142-144.
iii. Mark Sagoff, “Zuckerman’s Dilemma” introduction to Price, Principle, and the Environment (Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 1-22; part available at http ://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/37231/excerpt/9780521837231_excerpt.pdf
e. Recommended Overviews of the Field
i. Allen Carlson, Ch 1 of Aesthetics and the Environment: The Appreciation of Nature, Art and Architecture (New York: Routledge, 2000) is a very good overview of the field (and one in which he argues for his own view).
ii. Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleant “Introduction: The Aesthetics of Nature” in Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleant, eds., The Aesthetics of Natural Environments (Broadview Press, 2004), pp. 11-27 (also has a great annotated bibliography of the field, pp. 27-42 notes).
iii. Emily Brady, “Contemporary Theories of the Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature,” Ch 4, Aesthetics of the Natural Environment (Edinburgh, Great Britain: Edinburgh University Press, 2003), pp. 86-120 (A very careful and useful summary of most of the positions in the field with a strong criticism of Carlson included.)
B. What is Aesthetics?
3. Two readings
a. Monroe Beardsley, “The Aesthetic Point of View,” from his The Aesthetic Point of View (Cornell U Press, 1982), pp. 15-34.
b. Alan Goldman, "The Aesthetic," entry in Berys Gaut and Dominic Lopes, eds., Routledge Companion to Aesthetics (2001), pp. 181-192.
4. Saito, Yuriko “Everyday Aesthetics,” Philosophy and Literature - Volume 25, Number 1, April 2001, pp. 87-95.
a. Recommended Additional Reading:
i. Yi Fu Tuan, Ch. 2, "The Development of the Aesthetic Impulse" & Ch. 3, "Pleasures of the Proximate Senses " in Passing Strange and Wonderful : Aesthetics, Nature, and Culture (Washington, D.C. : Shearwater Books, 1993).
C. Key Concepts: (1) Nature, (2) Intrinsic Value, and (3) Aesthetic Value
5. Two articles
a. Nature: Paul Moriarty, “Nature Naturalized: A Darwinian Defense of the Nature/Culture Distinction,” Environmental Ethics 29,3 (Fall 2007): 227-246.
i. Earlier version of this paper at https://www.cep.unt.edu/ISEE2/moriarty
b. Intrinsic Value: O'Neill, John, "The Varieties of Intrinsic Value," Monist 75 (no. 2,) April 1992):119-137.
6. Aesthetic Value: Goldman, Alan “The Experiential Account of Aesthetic Value” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 64,3 (Summer 2006): 333-342.
II KNOWLEDGE AND NATURAL BEAUTY
D. Knowledge-Based Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature (Cognitivism)
7. Two readings
a. **Allen Carlson, “Appreciation and the Natural Environment,” Ch 4 of Aesthetics and the Natural Environment (Routledge, 2000), pp. 41-53
b. J. Baird Callicott "The Land Aesthetic," in Christopher Chaple, ed., Ecological Prospects: Scientific, Religious, and Aesthetic Perspectives (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994), pp. 169-183.
c. Recommended Additional Reading
i. Rolston, Holmes, III 1995. “Does Aesthetic Appreciation of Landscapes Need to be Science-Based?” British Journal of Aesthetics 35 (4), pp. 374-386.
E. Critiques and Defenses of Cognitivism
8. Two readings
a. Thomas Heyd, “Aesthetic Appreciation and the Many Stories about Nature,” British Journal of Aesthetics 41, 2001.
b. **Patricia Matthews “Scientific Knowledge and the Aes App of Nature,” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 60 (2002) 37-48.
9. Robert Stecker, “Environmental Aesthetics; Natural Beauty,” Ch. 2 of Stecker’s Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: An Introduction, pp. 13-33
a. Recommended Additional Reading
i. Glenn Parsons, “Theory, Observation, and the Role of Scientific Understanding in the Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 36 (2006) 165-186
ii. Robert Stecker, “The Correct and the Appropriate in the Appreciation of Nature,” The British Journal of Aesthetics 37: 1997: 393-403.
iii. Malcolm Budd, “Knowledge of Nature,” in The Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature: Essays on the Aesthetics of Nature (New York : Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 19-23
III. ALTERNATIVES TO KNOWLEDGE-BASED
AESTHETIC APPRECIATION OF NATURE
F: Emotion
10. **Carroll, Noel, "On Being Moved by Nature: Between Religion and Natural History," in Salim Kemal and Ivan Gaskell, eds., Landscape, Natural Beauty and the Arts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pages 244-266.
a. Recommended Additional Readings on Carroll/Carlson Debate
i. Allen Carlson, “Nature, Aesthetic Appreciation, and Knowledge,” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 653 1995, 393-400. (Carlson response to Carroll and Godlovitch)
ii. Carroll, Noel, “Emotion, Appreciation and Nature” (a response to above Carlson article “Nature, Aesthetic Appreciation, and Knowledge” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 53 (1995): 393-400 where he criticizes Carroll) in Noel Carroll, Beyond Aesthetics, Cambridge 2001, pp.384-394.
iii. Sheila Lintott "Adjudicating the Debate Over Two Models of Nature Appreciation," Journal of Aesthetic Education, 38 (3) (2004) , pp. 52-72.
b. Recommended Additional Readings on Nature and Expressive Qualities
i. Malcolm Budd, “Nature’s Expressive Qualities” in The Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature: Essays on the Aesthetics of Nature (New York : Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 115-18.
ii. Emily Brady, “Emotion, Expressive Qualities, and Nature,” in Aesthetics of the Natural Environment (Edinburgh, Great Britain: Edinburgh University Press, 2003) pp. 172-183.
iii. John Fisher, “Expressive Properties,” in Reflecting on Art (Mayfield, 1993), pp. 334-339.
G. Formalism
11. Two readings
a. Allen Carlson, “Formal qualities in the natural environment” Ch 3 of Aesthetics and the Natural Environment (Routledge, 2000), pp. 28-40.
b. **Nick Zangwill, “Formal Natural Beauty” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 2001, pp. 209-224.
c. Recommended Additional Readings:
i. Glenn Parsons, “Natural Functions and the Aesthetic Appreciation of Inorganic Nature,” British Journal of Aesthetics 44 (2004) 44-56.
ii. Allen Carlson and Glenn Parsons, "New Formalism and the Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature," Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62 (2004): 363-376.
iii. Zangwill, Nick, “In Defence of Extreme Formalism about Inorganic Nature: Reply to Parsons” British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 185-191, April 2005.
iv. Nick Zangwill, “Rocks and Sunsets: A Defense of Ignorant Pleasures,” Revista di Estetica, n.s., 29 (2/2005), XLV, pp. 53-59.
H. Imagination, Multi-Sensuous Engagement, and Disinterestedness
12. Emily Brady, “The Integrated Aesthetic I: Multi-Sensuous Engagement and Disinterestedness,”Ch. 5 of Aesthetics of the Natural Environment (Edinburgh, Great Britain: Edinburgh University Press, 2003), pp. 120-145.
13. Emily Brady, “The Integrated Aesthetic II: Imagination, Emotion and Knowledge” Ch. 6 of Aesthetics of the Natural Environment (Edinburgh, Great Britain: Edinburgh University Press, 2003), pp. 146-190.
I. Critiques of Imagination in Nature Appreciation
14. Two readings
a. **Marcia Eaton, “Fact and Fiction in the Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature” in A. Berleant and A. Carlson (eds.) Special Issue: Environmental Aesthetics, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56 (1998): 149-56.
b. Robert Fudge, “Imagination and the Science-based Aesthetic Appreciation of unscenic Nature, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 59 2001 275-285.
c. Recommended Additional Reading
i. Ron Moore, “Connective Beauty and Elaborative Imagination” in Natural Beauty: A Theory of Aesthetics Beyond the Arts (Broadview Press, 2008): pp. 178-192.
J. Engagement
15. Arnold Berleant, The Aesthetics of Environment (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992): Ch. 1 “Environment as a Challenge to Aesthetics;” Ch. 2, “The Aesthetic Sense of Environment;” Ch. 3 “Descriptive Aesthetics” pp. 1-39.
IV. SPECIFIC TOPICS: OBJECTIVITY, POSITIVE AESTHETICS
AND AESTHETIC PRESERVATIONSIM
K. Objectivity in the Aesthetics of Nature
16. Two readings
a. Kendall Walton, "Categories of Art," Philosophical Review 79 (1970) 339-67
b. **Carlson,“Nature, Aesthetic Judgment, and Objectivity” Ch 5 of Aesthetics and the Natural Environment (Routledge, 2000), 54-71
17. Three articles:
a. J. A. Walter, "You'll Love the Rockies," Landscape 17, 2, (1983):43-47.
b. Yuriko Saito, "Is There a Correct Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature?" Journal of Aesthetic Education, 18 (Winter 1984): 35-46.
c. **John Fisher “What the Hills are Alive With—In Defense of the Sounds of Nature,” in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 50:2, 1998, 167-179.
18. Malcolm Budd on Relativity in Nature Appreciation from The Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature: Essays on the Aesthetics of Nature (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002): 1.7 “Knowledge of Nature,” pp. 19-23; 3.3 “Appreciating Nature as What Nature Actually Is” pp. 95-97; 3.5 "Freedom and Relativity in the Aesthetic appreciation of Nature” pp. 106-109; 4.6 “Categories of Nature and Objectivity” pp. 121-124; 4.8 “Freedom, Relativity, Objectivity, and Positive Aesthetics” pp. 127-129; 4.10 “A Chimerical Quest” pp. 146-148.
a. Recommended Additional Articles
i. Parsons, Glenn, 2006. “Freedom and Objectivity in the Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature,” British Journal of Aesthetics 46, 1: 17-37.
ii. Malcolm Budd, “Objectivity and the Aesthetic Value of Nature: Reply to Parsons,” British Journal of Aesthetics 46/3 (July 2006): 267-273.
19. Three articles:
a. **Ronald Hepburn, "Trivial and Serious in Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature," in Salim Kemal and Ivan Gaskell eds., Landscape, Natural Beauty and the Arts Cambridge, 1993, pp. 65-77.
b. Ned Hettinger, “Objectivity in Environmental Aesthetics and Protection of the Environment,” in Allen Carlson and Sheila Lintott, eds., Duty to Beauty: From Aesthetics of Nature to Environmentalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008) (available on class web page)
c. Fisher and Hettinger, Draft, “Objectivity and Environmental Aesthetics: Is Natural Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder?” (available on class web page)
L. Positive Aesthetics
20. Two readings
a. Holmes Rolston III, “Is All Beauty in Nature?”, “Ugliness Transformed in Ecosystemic Perspective,” and “Beyond Beauty to the Sublime,” selections from Environmental Ethics: Duties to and Values in the Natural World (Temple University Press, 1988), pp. 237-245.
b. **Yuriko Saito, “The Aesthetics of Unscenic Nature” in A. Berleant and A. Carlson (eds.) Special Issue: Environmental Aesthetics, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56 (1998): 102-111.
c. Recommended additional reading:
i. Allen Carlson, "Nature and Positive Aesthetics," Environmental Ethics 6 (1984): 5-34.
ii. John Fisher, “All (Wild) Animals are Beautiful” May 2007 draft paper.
21. Malcolm Budd on Positive Aesthetics from The Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature: Essays on the Aesthetics of Nature (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002): 3.4 “Positive Aesthetics with Respect to Nature,” pp. 97-107; 4.7 “Positive Aesthetics” pp. 125-127
22. **Glenn Parsons, “Nature Appreciation, Science and Positive Aesthetics” British Journal of Aesthetics 42,3, July 2002.
23. Ned Hettinger, Draft, “Positive Aesthetics of Nature” (available on class web page)
M. Aesthetic Protectionism
24. Introduction
a. Comedy-central and Stewart windmill nimbyism on Nantucket-
b. Slide show by Michael Levitin, “Bye-Bye to the Aye-Aye: Who wants to save an ugly animal?” March 1, 2007 https://www.slate.com/id/2160742/nav/tap1/
c. Fisher and Hettinger, Draft “Chap 5: Environmentalist’s Worries about the Relevance of Aesthetics ” (available on class web page)
d. **Loftis, J. Robert, "Three Problems for the Aesthetic Foundations of Environmental Ethics," Philosophy in the Contemporary World 10 (no. 2, Fall-Winter 2003):41-50.
e. Stan Godlovitch, “Aesthetic Protectionism,” Journal of Applied Philosophy 6,2 1989 pp. 171-181
25. **Saito, Yuriko “The Role of Aesthetics in Civic Environmentalism,” in Arnold Berleant and Allen Carlson, eds., The Aesthetics of Human Environments (Peterborough, Ont: Broadview, 2007), pp. 203-18.
26. Two articles
a. **Thompson, Janna, “Aesthetics and the Value of Nature,” Environmental Ethics 17 (1995) 291-305.
b. Ned Hettinger, “Allen Carlson's Environmental Aesthetics and the Protection of the Environment,” Environmental Ethics 27, 1 (Spring 2005): 57-76.
c. Recommended Additional Readings
i. Holmes Rolston, "From Beauty to Duty: Aesthetics of Nature and Environmental Ethics." Pages 127-141 in Arnold Berleant, eds., Environment and the Arts: Perspectives on Environmental Ethics (Aldershot, Hampshire, UK and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2002)
ii. Marcia Eaton, “The Beauty that Requires Health,” in J. Nassauer, ed., Placing Nature: Culture and Landscape Ecology (Island Press, 1997): pp. 86-106.
iii. Carlson, Ch 9: “Environmental Education and the Dilemma of Aesthetic Education” in Aesthetics and the Natural Environment (Routledge, 2000), pp. 138-149
iv. Ned Hettinger “Animal Beauty, Ethics, and Environmental Preservation” May 2007 Draft.
v. Robert Elliott, Faking Nature: The Ethics of Envrionmental Restoration (Routledge, 1997) pp. 58-73 (“Naturalness and other bases of natural value” and “Aesthetic value and intrinsic value”)
vi. Sheila Lintott "Toward Eco-Friendly Aesthetics," Environmental Ethics 28,1 (Spring 2006): 57-76.
27. Emily Brady, Ch 8, “Aesthetics, Ethics and Environmental Conservation” in Aesthetics of the Natural Environment (Edinburgh, Great Britain: Edinburgh University Press, 2003), pp. 224-267.
N. Class with Visiting Professor Moore
28. Ron Moore, Ch1 (“Appreciating Nature as Natural”) and Ch 2 (“Conceptualism and Non-Conceptualism”) of Natural Beauty: A Theory of Aesthetics Beyond the Arts Appreciation of Nature as Natural (Broadview Press, 2008).