Does Aesthetic Appreciation of Landscapes Need to be Science Based?

1. Does Aesthetic Appreciation of Landscapes Need to be Science Based? Holmes Rolston III

2. Myths, Folklore, and Natural History • Volcano – • Tectonic Plates vs. Pele • Grand Canyon – • Geology vs. Talwoats • Mountains – • Geology vs. Man’s Sin All of these examples show an aesthetic appreciation of nature without a scientific basis.

3. Eye of the Beholder Cultural Differences cause us to view different landscapes as Aesthetically Pleasing. Is one of these two locations aesthetically better? English Garden vs. Japanese Garden

4. Beholder cont… • Rolston says both of his parents enjoyed nature • His mother had no knowledge of the landscape • His father knew the watershed, and what crops grew where, and when • Yet, Both enjoyed the Landscapes. “No aesthetic response is more or less correct than any other”

5. Beyond the Eye • Science helps us see what is objectively there. • Frames ideas of time and space beyond perception • Cultivates a habit of close inspection • Corrects for errors • “Badlands” and “Lonely Places”

6. Beyond the Eye cont. Knows his land. This man has studied all available information about the environmental and geological process of his environment Knows his land. This man has lived off of the land for his entire life, and has practical knowledge of how the environment acts as a whole, though he does not know the reasons why it does so.

7. Scenery and Artform, Ecology and Evolutionary History. • Rejects Formalism • Landscape and Object models don’t allow for participation • Devalues those things that are not classically beautiful • Deserts and Tundras • Burned or Dead Logs • Rotting Trees and Fungi

8. “You’ll Love the Rockies” • Expectations based on knowledge • Monotony • Too many trees and too few kinds • No balance and color. • Understanding leads to appreciation • “When you understand the harshness of … an alpine climate, you will find the plant’s clinging to life aesthetically stimulating.”

9. Environment, Ecology, Nature, and Landscape • Environment • The immediate surroundings of an organism • Ecology • How a specific environment works • Nature • Entire system of overlapping environments • Landscape • Section of land seen from a specific place.

10. My Environment vs. The Environment • My Environment • Only exists when viewed • Borders are relative to me • I am, therefore, a part of it • The Environment • Sum total of all the “my environments” • Has no horizons • “It constitutes me”

11. Scientific, Participatory Environmental Aesthetics • Aesthetic Experiences should be Science Based, but also Science Transcending • Science Enriches Landscapes • Gives a better understanding of what is taking place • Shows us aspects of which we were formerly unaware • Helps us evolve our Sensitivity to Beauty • Find beauty in things that are not classically so. • Deconstructs Myths and misconceptions • “We have to be realists, at least enough to survive” But, there must be something more…

12. Conclusions • Science and Participation come together to create a “Richer Aesthetic Experience” • Our environments overlap and interact • Demythologize, but realize that “the full story of natural history is phenomenal.” • Participatory knowledge in the environment leads to a fuller understanding of this phenomenal natural history of the world, and therefore a “Richer Aesthetic Experience”