Taylor Edmund February 13, 2011PHIL 450 Prof. Hettinger

On being moved by nature:

between religion and natural historyNoël Carroll

IntroductionFocuses much of his writing on Allen Carlson

Establishes Carlson’s view about the appreciation of nature

Explains Carlson’s framework for his viewpoints

Proposes his concerns with Carlson’s models

Illustrates his preliminary arguments

Science By Elimination

Carroll explains and presents his problems with each of Carlson’s models for appreciating nature.

Object Paradigm

Landscape or Scenery Model

Environmental Paradigm

Carroll deciphers and raises questions against Carlson’s arguments.

The Object ParadigmGuides our attention to certain aspects of nature

Frames on nature are either insensitive or inoperable

Missing the whole landscape picture with frames

Missing the experience of being “amidst” Nature

The Landscape or Scenery Model

Nature as a landscape painting

Fine art as a precedent

Still missing the actual beauty in nature

Environmental Paradigm

Nature as Nature

Natural expanses

Includes all natural forces

This guides us to the “appropriate foci” of aesthetic significance

Knowledge about science, natural history, and common sense

Science by Elimination Conclusion

Wants to make a connection between the guidance to natural appreciation and the guidance to art appreciation.

Rejects both, the object paradigm and the scenery paradigm

So if not this, or this, then it only leaves science so that must be the answer.

Carroll On Science by Elimination

Thinks both theories can co-exist

Appreciation does not require knowledge

Involves our sense experience

The Arousal Model, operative cognitions, and rooted in the commonsense knowledge

The Claims of Objectivist

Epistemology Some aesthetic judgements of nature are objective

Explanation of the Categories of Art theory

Not helpful when it comes to nature

Appropriate or Inappropriate emotions

If all things are equal....

“Wrong Class Comparison”

Depth of an Aesthetic Appreciation

Carroll on Objectivist Epistemology

Appreciation without accurate knowledge

Emotionally moved by things relative to ourselves

Being moved by nature satisfies Carlson’s epistemological challenge

What makes responses shallow or deep is not clear

Equally as important as scientific appreciation and natural history

Order Appreciation

Design Appreciation

Order Appreciation

Design Appreciation doesn’t work for nature appreciation

Religious sentiment

Carroll on Order Appreciation

Not design or order appreciation, not guided by art history or natural history

Requisites for natural appreciation?

Still closing off types of appreciation

Appreciation because of survival instinct?

Should not be viewed as a religious response

Summary

Carlson closes off different kinds of appreciation according to Carroll

Carroll believes we can be emotionally moved by nature

Appreciation does not require knowledge or correct information

This form should co-exsist with Carlson’s

Questions for Discussion

What would he say about everyday appreciations of nature?

Are we drawn in to focus on things we lack?

Do we grow to appreciate things once we are not surrounded by them? (i.e. the feeling of coming home)

Works Cited

Kemal, Salim, and Ivan Gaskell. Landscape, Natural Beauty and the Arts. Cambridge [England: Cambridge UP, 1993. Print.