This books presents fresh and fascinating insights into our interpretation of the environment and shows how our aesthetic experience encompasses nature rather than art.

Traditional aesthetics is often associated with the appreciation of art, Allen Carlson shows how much of our aesthetic experience does not encompass art but nature. He argues that knowledge of what it is we are appreciating is essential to having an appropriate aesthetic experience and that scientific understanding of nature can enhance our appreciation of it, rather than denigrate it.

List of illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Introduction: aesthetics and the environment PART 1 The appreciation of nature 1 The aesthetics of nature, A brief historical overview A brief overview of contemporary positions The natural environmental model: some further ramifications Notes 2 Understanding and aesthetic experience Aesthetic experience on the Mississippi Formalism and aesthetic experience Disinterestedness and aesthetic experience Conclusion Notes 3 Formal qualities in the natural
environment Formal qualities and formalism Formal qualities in current work in environmental aesthetics Background on the significance assigned to formal qualities Formal qualities in the natural environment Conclusion Notes
4 Appreciation and the natural environment The appreciation of art Some artistic models for the appreciation of nature An environmental model for the appreciation of nature Conclusion Notes 5 Nature, aesthetic judgment, and objectivity Nature and objectivity Walton's position Nature and culture Nature and Walton's psychological claim The correct categories of nature Conclusion Notes 6 Nature and positive aesthetics The development of positive aesthetics Nature appreciation as non-aesthetic Positive aesthetics and sublimity Positive aesthetics and theism Science and aesthetic appreciation of nature Science and appropriate aesthetic appreciation of nature Science and positive aesthetics Notes 7 Appreciating art and appreciating nature The concept of appreciation Appreciating Art: design and appreciation Appreciating Art: order appreciation Appreciation nature: design appreciation Appreciating nature: order appreciation Conclusion Notes PART II Landscapes, art and architecture 8 Between nature and art The question of aesthetic relevance Objects of appreciation and aesthetic
necessity Between nature and art: Appreciating other things Notes 9 Environmental aesthetics and the dilemma of aesthetic education The eyesaw argument The dilemma of aesthetic education The natural The aesthetically pleasing Life values and the eyesore argument Conclusion Notes 10 Is environmental art an aesthetic affront to nature? Environmental works of art Environmental art
as an aesthetic affront Some replies to the affront charge Some concluding examples Notes 11 The aesthetic appreciation of Japanese gardens The dialectical nature of Japanese gardens The new agricultural landscapes Difficult aesthetic appreciation and novelty 12 Appreciating
the new agricultural landscapes Traditional agricultural
landscapes The new agricultural landscapes Difficult aesthetic appreciation and novelty Appreciating the new agricultural landscapes Conclusion Notes 13 Existence, location, and function: the appreciation of architecture