Aesthetic Value of Nature – Pleasure or Appreciation?
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Public recreation and landscape protection - with man hand in hand : conference proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | landscape character, methodology for landscape character assessment, aesthetic value, aesthetic appreciation, pleasure |
| Description | The paper discusses the aesthetic dimension of landscape. In the Czech Republic, landscape character is protected by law from activities that would diminish its aesthetic and natural value. Most landscape experts agree that areas with well preserved landscape character should be protected for the sake of visitors and future generations, because of their aesthetic value. However, to define aesthetic value in such a way that it would be able to compete with other interests is often perceived as a difficult task – mostly because aesthetic value tends to be understood as purely sensory-based. This is the way of understanding aesthetic value that dominates methodologies for landscape character assessment. Looking from the point of view of aesthetics, though, we find many inconsistencies. While methodologies view aesthetic value as a result of sensory perception, aesthetics view it as a conscious reflected act. The paper poses a question: to what extent is it desirable to view aesthetic value as a pure result of like or dislike, in other words as a result of a pleasant or unpleasant feeling from perceiving landscape, and could a different approach lead to aesthetic value being assigned more argumentative weight? |
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