Contemporary views on the aesthetics of nature fall into two opposing schools of thought; the cognitive school where philosophers such as Allen Carlson believe that science can explain everything about the aesthetics of nature, and the non-cognitive where, for example, Arnold Berleant maintains that science is a sufficient though not a necessary condition for the aesthetic appreciation of nature. Berleant and others of his kind contend that an engaged multi-sensuous relationship with nature will manifest the required experience. Empathy with nature, specifically primal empathy is the focus of this research, but empathy can only be experienced from a phenomenological perspective. I have walked over two hundred miles in over 70 Florida state parks, including an autumn trip to Vermont and back. During this journey I came to experience a personal connection (empathy) with nature that I now believe is grounded in holism and a methodology of the sublime leading to the beautiful. The main conclusions derived from this research are: self-realized individuals will experience the connection I speak of more quickly than those who are not, and the genius nature artist through a creative act grounded in primal empathy can reveal the Ideas or Forms of nature to those who would otherwise never experience them. This research also concludes that empathy with nature, specifically primal empathy, is a new element that can reduce the cleft and help unify the two opposing views. / by Robert L.J. Axberg. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 184 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-184). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

An ecological paradigm shift from the "balance of nature" to the "flux of nature" will change the way we aesthetically appreciate nature if we adopt scientific cognitivism-the view that aesthetic appreciation of nature must be informed by scientific knowledge. Aesthetic judgments are subjective, though we talk about aesthetic qualities as if they were objectively inherent in objects, events, or environments. Aesthetic judgments regarding nature are correct insofar as they are part of a community consensus regarding the currently dominant scientific paradigm. Ecological science is grounded in metaphors: nature is a divine order, a machine, an organism, a community, or a cybernetic system. These metaphors stimulate and guide scientific practice, but do not exist independent of a conceptual framework. They are at most useful fictions in terms of how they reflect the values underlying a paradigm. Contemporary ecology is a science driven more by aesthetic than metaphysical considerations. I review concepts in the history of nature aesthetics such as the picturesque, the sublime, disinterestedness, and formalism. I propose an analogy: just as knowledge of art history and theory should inform aesthetic appreciation of art, knowledge of natural history and ecological theory should inform aesthetic appreciation of nature. The "framing problem," is the problem that natural environments are not discrete objects, so knowing what to focus on in an environment is difficult. The "fusion problem" is the problem of how to fuse the sensory aspect of aesthetic appreciation with highly theoretical scientific knowledge. I resolve these two problems by defending a normative version of the theory-laden observation thesis. Positive aesthetics is the view that insofar as nature is untouched by humans, it is always beautiful and never ugly. I defend an amended and updated version of positive aesthetics that is consistent with the central elements of contemporary ecology, and emphasize the heuristic, exegetical, and pedagogical roles aesthetic qualities play in ecological science.

Thesis (MA)-- Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: On the way to a contemporary eco-aesthetic. My thesis consists of three chapters; the first chapter contains a basic background study and philosophic research of concepts which are relevant to my work; the second chapter is a discussion of ecofeminism as political and spiritual phenomena (my work resorts in the genre of ecofeminism); and the third chapter is an analytic consideration and discussion where my works are presented as a visual explanation of my own interpretation of the dialogue between art and science with underlying geographical and ecological concepts. Some of these concepts purport the ritual of cycles and the aesthetic experience thereof. They deal with the earth as maternal patron where the layers of society (evidence of existence) becomes evident in the layering of the earth. This evidence of existence can be found in the waste generated from the cyclic existence of living beings and organisms. In addition, the traditional scrub or healing activities which are ascribed to women, are used as an argument to effectuate a consciousness of symbioses. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: My tesis bestaan uit drie hoofstukke; die eerste hoofstuk behels 'n basiese agtergrondstudie en filosofiese ondersoek na konsepte wat na my mening betrekking het op my werk; die tweede hoofstuk is 'n bespreking oor ekofeminisme as politieke en spirituele verskynsel (my werk ressorteer onder ekofeminisme as genre); en die derde hoofstuk 'n analitiese beskouing en bespreking waar my werk aangebied word as visuele verduideliking van my persoonlike interpretasie van die dialoog tussen kuns en wetenskap met onderliggende geografiese en ekologiese konsepte. Van hierdie konsepte gaan oor die ritueel van siklusse en die estetiese belewenis daarvan. Dit handeloor die aarde as die moederskoot waar die lae van samelewings (bewyse van bestaan) gelees kan word in die gelaagdheid van die aarde. Hierdie bewyse van bestaan kan gevind word in die afval wat gegenereer word uit die sikliese bestaanswyse van lewende wesens en organismes. Hiermee saam word die tradisionele skrop- of helende aktiwiteite wat aan vroue toegeken word, as argument gebruik om 'n bewussyn van simbiose te bewerkstellig.

This thesis considers a selection of modern landscape poetry from an ecocritical perspective, arguing that this poetry demonstrates how the term landscape might be re-imagined in relation to contemporary environmental concerns. Each chapter discusses poetic responses to a different kind of landscape: gardens, forests, rivers and islands. Chapter One explores how, in the poetry of Ian Hamilton Finlay, Douglas Dunn, Louise Glück and David Harsent, gardens are culturally constructed landscapes in which ideas of self, society and environment are contemplated; I ask whether gardening provides a positive example of how people might interact with the natural world. My second chapter demonstrates that for Sorley MacLean, W.S. Merwin, Susan Stewart and Kathleen Jamie, forests are sites of memory and sustainable ‘dwelling', but that deforestation threatens both the ecology and the culture of these landscapes. Chapter Three compares river poems by Ted Hughes and Alice Oswald, considering their differing approaches to river sources, mystical immersion in nature, water pollution and poetic experimentation; I discuss how in W.S. Graham's poetry the sea provides a complex image of the phenomenal world similar to Oswald's river. The final chapter examines the extent to which islands in poetry are pastoral landscapes and environmental utopias, looking in particular at poems by Dunn, Robin Robertson, Iain Crichton Smith and Jen Hadfield. I reflect upon the potential for island poetry to embrace narratives of globalisation as well as localism, and situate the work of George Mackay Brown and Robert Alan Jamieson within this context. I engage with a range of ecocritical positions in my readings of these poets and argue that the linguistic creativity, formal inventiveness and self-reflexivity of poetry constitute a distinctive contribution to contemporary understandings of landscape and the environment.