Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Kant's suggestion of subjective universality to understand aesthetic judgments  solves many of the problems with aesthetics as a whole and I think it can be applied to environmental aesthetics as well.  Even if someone does not agree that this view I have on our snow day is not beautiful, I would be willing to give arguments in why they should think otherwise.


In the end, we will all think it is beautiful or not depending on our own perspectives and experiences. However, as in Kant's Categorical Imperative (Kant's ethical framework), we wish that other make the same aesthetic observations as we do.

The problems that seems to arise with environmental aesthetics are the complexities of the aesthetic in relation to the ethical responsibility attached to the preservation of that.  There are more repercussions for not agreeing on the worth of natural beauty.  If not everyone agrees in the sanctity of "ugly" landscapes, then what makes them worth preserving?  I am excited to discuss the many perspectives to understand and solve the problems that arise in making this distinction.

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