Waterfall

Noel Carroll is well-known for his his philosophy of being moved by nature.  In a passage in the book, "Nature, Aesthetics, and Environmentalism,"he talks emotional about waterfalls.

"Turning from tanks to nature, we may be emotionally moved by a natural expanse, excited, for instance by the grandeur of a towering waterfall. All things being equal, being excited by the grandeur of something that one believes to be of a large scale is an appropriate emotional response.  Moreover, if the belief in the large scale of the cascade is one that is true for others as well, then the emotional response of being excited by the grandeur of the waterfall is an objective one.  It is not subjective, distorted, or wayward.  If someone denies being moved by the waterfall, but agrees that the waterfall is large scale and says nothing more, we are apt to suspect that his response, as well as judgments issued on the basis of that response are inappropriate.  If he does not agree that the waterfall is of a large scale, and does not say why, we will suspect him either of not understanding how to use the notion of large scale, or irrationality.  If he disagrees that the waterfall is of a large scale because the galaxy is much much larger, then we will try to convince him that he had the wrong comparison class - urging, perhaps, that he should gauge the scale of the water fall in relation to human scale."

In a park near my home, there is a beautiful trail with a lake that becomes a babbling brook.  There are very small waterfalls here and there, and even though they are not of "grandeur," their beautiful, rushing sound, the foam that forms at the bottom of the fall, and the way the water carves the stone is still so beautiful and majestic to me.