The Beauty of Environment: A General Model for Environmental Aesthetics Page: 37
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Generally they can be classed as a third main group. The groups are thus (1) art, (2) nature, and (3)
art & nature, that is a mixed parasite group of the two previous ones.
The philosophy of art deals with art generally, from all sides. The philosophy of the aesthetic
object contained in a work of art can be set as its parallel. The point of examination is thus the
aesthetic object, not the work of art in its entirety. It is perhaps possible to say that the aesthetic
object of a work of art covers the greater part of a work of art.
As a class works of art have usually a paradigmatic position in that art is used as a model in the
aesthetic perception of other objects. The work of art can justifiably be thought of as being a central
case, which warrants comparisons. But it does not necessarily have to be a question of anything
more than similarity between it and environmental objects.
Art contains its own paradigmatic works - the classics and others that have achieved an
established status - and our practical conception of art is greatly influenced by them. Art can be
thought of as an area, which has a clear core and unclear boundaries. Although the delimitation is
controversial in itself, which side of the border the object is placed is fundamental. The borders
themselves can be thought of as being as indistinct as the ripples that advance and weaken in
advancing when a stone is thrown into water.
In the border area entire forms that are on the art side are architecture, garden art, and so-called
environmental art. Industrial design, handicraft, etc. are outside. Artistic and aesthetic features can
also be found outside of art; besides, an external object may be, as an object, aesthetically more
valuable than an art object. Art is a certain cultural phenomenon which does not necessarily have
to be connected to the aesthetic. As for aesthetic objects, they are always, by definition, bound to
the aesthetic. But the number of aesthetic features may be in that way small, so that one is not
justified in speaking of an aesthetic object in a characterizing sense, even though an aesthetic mode
of examination has been chosen. The term 'aesthetic object' is thus ambiguous: on the one hand it
means an object, which has a relatively large number of aasthetic features (i.e. is beautiful), on the
other anything at all that is subject to aesthetic examination.
i. Parasites of art: natural/environmental works of art
What is a natural work of art, of which especially naturalists so often speak, either generally or
more precisely in terms of art forms? I take a few examples from Reino Kalliola:
(1) "A wasp's nest is a real work of art." (Its maker for its part is "an architect of the insect
world.") [Kalliola 1946: 320.]
(2) "A birch wood in an old pasture - like a painting from the last century by Holmberg
or Westerholm, from the times of patriotic idealism." [Kalhola 1951: 227 ]
(3) "Rame, neva and korpi (pine bog, grass bog and spruce marsh) - there is the triad of
Finnish bog country. Our rugged landscape plays innumerable variations on this melan-
choly melody." [Kalliola 1946: 232.]
In such cases naturalists do not intend a literal significance. Literally, it would mean that natural
objects were offered and approved of as works of art. Because one speaks of a work of art, but not
literally, this practise is called parasitic: parasitic use is dependent on literal use. It would also be
possible to speak of metaphorical use. - This is a very general way of speaking, and from the point
of view of my work it is an important border-area problem located on the side of environmental
aesthetics; therefore, I will explore it at some lenght.37
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Sepänmaa, Yrjö. The Beauty of Environment: A General Model for Environmental Aesthetics, book, 1993; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc52173/m1/55/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Center For Environmental Philosophy.