Aesthetics and Nature

Contents......Page 8
Introduction......Page 10
 Two Worries About Natural Beauty......Page 12
 A Short History of Taste in Landscape......Page 17
 Philosophical Definition and ‘Having an Aesthetic Quality’......Page 22
 The Role of Thought......Page 29
 A Post-modern Approach to the Aesthetics of Nature......Page 34
 Objections to the Post-modern Approach......Page 37
 Formalism, Nature and Pictures......Page 45
 Strengths of Formalism......Page 50
 Objections to Formalism......Page 54
 Science and the ‘Nature Critic’......Page 60
 Another Turn in the Taste for Landscape?......Page 65
 Objections to the Science-based Approach......Page 70
 Modest Pluralism......Page 77
 Robust Pluralism......Page 83
 Objections to Pluralism......Page 87
 The Challenge to the Disembodied Aesthetic......Page 92
 An Engaged Aesthetic for Nature......Page 96
 Criticisms of the Engaged Aesthetic......Page 100
7 Aesthetics and the Preservation of Nature......Page 106
 Aesthetic Preservation in Theory and Practice......Page 107
 Two Issues for Aesthetic Preservation......Page 113
 The Preservationist’s Dilemma......Page 118
 The Garden as Nature......Page 125
 The Garden as Art......Page 129
 Is Nature Essential to the Garden?......Page 132
 Environmental Art: An Affront to Nature?......Page 139
 Defending Environmental Art......Page 143
 Is the Effrontery Charge Coherent?......Page 148
Notes......Page 152
Bibliography......Page 164
 D......Page 172
 M......Page 173
 T......Page 174
 Z......Page 175