Abstract

I defend a theory of the aesthetic appreciation of nature inspired by John Dewey. I expand Dewey's claim that the appreciation of art is best understood in terms of consummatory experiences by claiming that the aesthetic appreciation of nature is also best understood in terms of consummatory experiences. ;Dewey argues that traditional theories of art selectively attend to objects in museums in order to understand art and ignore art's sources in and its effects on everyday life. Many of Dewey's claims have been absorbed by analytic aesthetics. For example, many philosophers agree that what we appreciate about art depends on understanding the work's context and that art serves important and various social functions. However, the analogous claim is anathema to theories of the aesthetic appreciation of nature. Nature is commonly understood as free from human interference, as beautiful if it is pristine and as aesthetically valuable independent of its human benefit. ;These claims are the result of selectively attending to nature as a thing apart from daily life. Nature has been placed into "museums" such as National Parks and National Forests. We can better understand the aesthetic appreciation of nature in term of its continuity with everyday life. First, rather than as a container for natural objects, the appreciation of nature is best understood as the appreciation of an environment, an object that includes the perceiver. Second, aesthetic experiences of nature are best understood as consummatory experiences. An experience of the Grand Tetons as majestic depends on appreciating the significance of their scalar relationship to human life. Third, aesthetic experiences of nature serve important and various social functions. Aesthetic experiences of harmony and mystery for example, change our understanding of our place in the world. We aesthetically appreciate both art and nature by having consummatory experiences. However, consummatory experiences of art are cultivated differently than are our consummatory experiences of nature. With art, we bring an experience to fulfillment by engaging with the object as the product of an artist's experience; we bring an experience of nature to fulfillment by engaging with the environment as the source of our own experience