Abstract
The article moves within a larger framework of environmental and ecological aesthetics and asks whether perceiving and focusing on nature’s beauty could inspire a more sustainable attitude towards nature. Shifting from environmentally indifferent aesthetics to aesthetics that take account of the catastrophic situation of the natural environment, severe threats posed by climate crisis, ever-increasing urbanisation, mass extinction of species, and other related phenomena in a global perspective, will be the guiding thread of the article. Is this new wave of aesthetics—based on the awareness and respect for natural beauty—aesthetically meaningful? Can we conceive an aesthetics that goes beyond the limits of the cultural tradition centred around the primacy of human values and needs? Does this move presuppose a new politics of aesthetics? Is it possible, by changing our attitude towards nature, to initiate a long-awaited change in the general political perception of the environment? A further objective would imply a general and substantial re-evaluation of the natural environment and beauty related to it, as well as outlining a general theoretical framework for achieving this goal.
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Vihalem, M. (2022). The Beauty of Nature at Risk of Extinction! Could Aesthetics Act as a Means for Saving Natural Beauty?. In: Di Stefano, E., Friberg, C., Ryynänen, M. (eds) Aesthetic Perspectives on Culture, Politics, and Landscape. UNIPA Springer Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77830-9_8
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