Contemplation in Philosophical Approach to the Aesthetics of Nature

Some philosophical questions about assessing the nature of aesthetic have been proposed with divergent centralizations which try to stabilize landscape aesthetics conceptually by providing an appropriate framework. This article with an analytical-philosophical approach tries to search about this issue by studying the theories and achievements of most renowned scientist and philosophers in the field of aesthetics. The main question of this article is to find which/what nature is beautiful in people point of view? Responding this question requires such the science on aesthetic of nature. This question is solved by integrating these two models: The CONCEPTUAL-COGNITIVE Model and The NONCONCEPTUAL- IMAGINATIVE Model. In order to to have a right assessment on environment and to know which/what nature is beautiful, the hypothesis of this article is based on the hybrid model that asserts the integrated model is the answer. Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleant are two of the most influential figures who have framed the issues and have pursued aesthetic inquiries of landscape and the environment in terms of polar opposites deeply rooted in the dichotomous positions in our mind: science and art, subjective-objective matters and cognition and emotion. Carlson choose a main role for cognitive, conceptual and science based of human experience in aesthetic but Berleant emphasized on imaginative, non-conceptual, non-science based aspects. The common position held by both Carlson and Berleant is that the aesthetics of nature is an important subject matter in the debate surrounding contemporary environmental issues, and that it must be developed conceptually and theoretically from an experiential point of view, helping us to escape from much misguided thought on the aesthetics of art as well as on the subject of landscape evaluation Eventually, it is emphasized that both philosophical positions on the aesthetic appreciation for nature attempt to make a logical connection between the value of nature and the value of art. Since these two aspects are intertwined with human experience and accepting that human experience is resulted from human and environment interaction, the quality of nature is considered objective- subjective. Clearly fuller account of aesthetic experience and value in the natural environment will emerge when natural and cultural knowledge is furnished by imagination, cognition, and emotion with both narrative and ambient dimensions. The combination of these two aspects will improve the spiritual and moral aspects of the human mind and lead to environmental sustainability.