Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy

Volume 11, 2018

Environmental Philosophy

Demetrios Matthopoulos
Pages 95-103

Concepts in Environmental Aesthetics

Philosophers, long ago, were involved in defining the criteria for the aesthetic appreciation of nature. On the debate as to “Which is the real consideration of environment?” several philosophers agree that the object of aesthetic experience can be found in nature, while others believe that aesthetic norms are the result of arts. Systemic methods developed for expressing ourselves do not create aesthetic norms but represent norms elaborated by our senses. These norms exist a priori in nature, under the auspice of natural autaxia and in order to be expressed have to be analyzed and interpreted. Considering that the knowledge of the soul greatly advances our understanding of nature and that the senses frame intellectual perception, the aesthetic perception of our surroundings is the result of the ability to elaborate incoming stimuli originating in nature. Our interpretive ability is the result of the interaction between our genetic background and paedia, education, framing an important part of our whole emotional and psychological selves. Nature’s aesthetic evaluation is the result of the perception of the existing aesthetic norms in nature, the way they are framed by the faculty of human senses and interpreted by the various systemic methods developed.