1. Holmes Rolston, “Is All Beauty in Nature?” Env. Ethics 1988

2. Is All Of Nature Beautiful?

3. Elk bottom

4. John Muir’s Positive Aes “None of nature’s landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild” 19 th century naturalist, writer, founder of Sierra Club

5. Positive aesthetics thesis not plausible for art Implausible to say artworks never badly done –Museum of Bad Art –http://www.museumofbadart.org/http://www.museumofbadart.org/ Yet positive aesthetics claims this for natural objects One rationale for the difference: –Can be no failures in nature (whereas there can be in art), as no artistic intention –Nature, unlike artist, can never fail as never tried –False assumption only failed art/nature can be poor aesthetically? –There are failures of a sort in nature

6. Rejections of Positive Nature Aesthetics “Just as there are rotten violinists, so there must be pathetic creeks; just as there is pulp fiction, so there must be junk species; just as there are forgettable meals, so there must be inconsequential forests” –Stan Godlovitch, “Evaluating Nature Aesthetically,” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56, 2 1998, p. 121 Photo of Aye-Aye ( a endangered mammal from Madagascar)

7. Bear scat aesthetically positive?

8. Rolston Positive Aesthetics: The Matterhorn leaves us in awe, but so does the fall foliage on any New England hillside, or the rhododendron on Roan Mountain. Those who linger with nature find this integrity where it is not at first suspected, in the copperhead and the alligator, in the tarantula and the morel, in the wind-stunted banner spruce and the straggly box elder, in the stormy sea and the wintry tundra.... This value is often aesthetic and invariably so if we examine a natural entity at the proper level of observation or in terms of its ecological setting...The humus from a rotting log supports an exquisite hemlock.... Should we say that we find all life beautiful?” (COFN, p. 44-45)

9. Rolston’s Positive Aesthetics Rolston embrace a type of holistic positive aesthetics: Nature as a whole is aesthetically positive, even if some individual items are not. Rolston’s overall judgment about nature is that it has substantial beauty (nature, he often says, is “a wonderland”).

10. Rolston accepts presence of some ugliness in nature Some items in nature are ugly when viewed from certain perspectives (in isolation) Inoculates him against obvious counterexamples Although Rolston allows “itemized individual ugliness in nature,” he argues that we should accept “these ugly events as anomalies challenging the general paradigm that nature’s landscapes without fail have an essential beauty”(243 EE).

11. Contrast Rolston’s positive aesthetics with Allen Carlson’s individualism –“Each natural thing, either with appropriate appreciation or at many, if not almost all, levels and conditions of observation, has substantial positive aesthetic value and little, if any, negative aesthetic value.” –Not just natural kinds, essential beauty, or minor beauty –Each individual thing is aes positive Eugene Hargrove’s no negative qualities –“According to positive aesthetics, nature, to the degree that it is natural (that is, unaffected by human beings), is beautiful and has no negative aesthetic qualities” (Foundations of Environmental Ethics, 177) –Nature is itself its own standard of goodness and beauty, making ugliness impossible as a product of nature’s own creative activity” (184)

12. Rolston is a master at articulating disvalue in nature Surprising given his defense of positive aesthetics “Once as a college youth I killed an opossum that seemed sluggish and then did an autopsy. He was infested with a hundred worms! Grisly and pitiful, he seemed a sign of the whole wilderness,... too alien to value” (1986, p.128-29, quoted in Carlson 2007, p. 107). “The wilderness teems with kinds but is a vast graveyard with hundreds species laid waste for one or two that survive. Wildness is a gigantic food pyramid, and this sets value in a grim death bound jungle. All is a slaughterhouse, with life a miasma rising over the stench.” (10 From Values Gone Wild).

13. Rolston powerfully expresses the idea that seeing only beauty in animals is Pollyannaish: The critic will complain against admirers of wildlife that they overlook as much as they see. The bison are shaggy, shedding, and dirty. That hawk has lost several flight feathers; that marmot is diseased and scarred. The elk look like the tag end of a rough winter. A half dozen juvenile eagles starve for every one that reaches maturity. Every wild life is marred by the rips and tears of time and eventually destroyed by them (1987, p. 192).

14. Rolston denies equal or perfect beauty in nature “Like clouds, which are never ugly, only more or less beautiful, so too, mountains, forests, seashores, grasslands, cliffs, canyons, cascades, and rivers... [Positive aesthetics] does not find all places equally or perfectly beautiful; it maps them on a scale that runs from zero upward but has no negative numbers (EE, 237).

15. Lenticular clouds Ordinary clouds

16. Negative judgments about landscapes are mistaken “Never called for to say such places are bland, dull, boring, chaotic.” Unfailingly generate favorable experience in the suitably perceptive Obviously, some don’t like swamps, deserts, prairies, but “To say of a desert, the tundra, a volcanic eruption that it is ugly is to make a false statement and to respond inappropriately.”

17. Rolston’s advocates nature’s “systemic beauty,” a tendency toward beauty that turns ugliness into beauty “Virgin nature is not at every concrete locus aesthetically good: consider a crippled fish that has escaped an alligator. Those who are not programmatic nature romantics will admit this and go on to recover what beauty they can. But ugliness, though present at times in particulars, is not the last word... regenerative forces are already present... nature will bring beauty out of this ugliness... this tendency is already present and aesthetically stimulating now... when the point event, which is intrinsically ugly, is stretched out instrumentally in the process, the ugliness mellows–though it does not disappear–and makes its contribution to systemic beauty and to beauty in later- coming individuals... There is ugliness, but even more, there are transformative forces that sweep toward beauty... disorder and corruption are the prelude to creation, and in this perpetual re-creation there is high beauty. Nature’s beauty can be costly and tragic, yet nature is a scene of beauty ever reasserting itself in the face of destruction.

18. Negative aesthetic qualities properly contextualized become positive “If hikers come upon the rotting carcass of an elk, full of maggots, they find it revolting. Here is a bad example of its kind, disharmony, a putrid elk” (EE 238). Later he writes:

19. Ugliness in nature contextualized recovers (some?) beauty Once, tracking wolves in Alberta, I came upon a wolf kill. Wolves had driven a bull elk to the edge of a cliff, cornered it there, before a great pine, itself clinging to the edge. It made a good picture; the mountains on the skyline, the trees nearer in, the fallen elk at the cliff’s edge. The colours were green and brown, white and grey, somber and deep. The process, beyond the form, was still more stimulating. I was witness to an ecology of predator and prey, to population dynamics, to heterotrophs feeding on autotrophs. The carcass, beginning to decay, was already being recycled by microorganisms. All this science is about something vital, essential, and also existential about living on the landscape. In the scene I beheld, there was time, life, death, life persisting in the midst of its perpetual perishing. My human life, too, lies in such trophic pyramids. Incarnate in this world, I saw through my environment of the moment into the Environment quintessential, and found it aesthetically exciting (Science based, 384-85)

20. Possible counter-examples to positive nature aes? “Failures in nature are omnipresent, all organisms and ecosystems are finally ruined” (e.g., they die/come to an end) Tourists take no pictures of these “eye sores” They are not picturesque

21. Ugliness diminished/overcome when viewed in proper context –Seen from a landscape and ecosystem perspective, these are not simply ugly Ugliness transformed in ecosystem perspective “Ugliness mellows—though it does not disappear” “Ugly parts do not subtract from but enrich the whole” –Momentary ugliness a still shot in an ongoing (aesthetically positive) motion picture –From an informed, systemic perspective only get positive aes response –Each item must be seen in environmental context Judgment of ugliness is like looking at piece of a jigsaw puzzle and saying pieces are misshapen

22. Humans selected to find some things repulsive (rotting carcasses, excrement) But not ugly in the system of nutrient recycling Systemic beauty of body decaying Rotting elk returns to humus and is recycled; maggots become flies, food for birds; natural selection leads to better adapted elk

23. Cognitive (i.e., knowledge) dimension of aes important to Rolston’s defense of positive aes Such beauty is not so much viewed as experienced after ecological understanding gained Many of life’s richest aes experiences can not be put on a canvas or have a picture taken of them Natural history/science allows aes appreciation of what might otherwise be aes negative Allows us to move beyond scenery cult

24. Fall Color

25. Scenery cult as a bad reason for rejecting positive aes That nature isn’t picturesque, doesn’t mean it is not beautiful Nature’s positive aes value transcends scenic beauty Inappropriate to drive through a park and harvest scenic resources only “As if nature that can’t serve us must please us”

26. Is predation in nature ugly? “It was a spotted hyena, the kind people think of when they hear the word “hyena”–a dirty, matted creature, dripping with blood. It must have made a good kill. The prey must have been large enough for the hyena to thrust its whole head in, up to the block like shoulders. This must be why the hyena has such a snake of a neck–so it can delve deep into a dying animal and eat the best parts...I saw other hyenas...They were all dipped in blood...One could see which animal had gnawed at a leg, cheek pressed to bloody flank, or which had held a piece to its chest and embraced it there as it chewed...A crowd of vultures pounced on and squabbled over pieces of skin ripped free when the hyenas pulled off their parts, and a few insects had already stripped clots of blood from the soaked grass.” Joanna Greenfield, The New Yorker 1996

27. Lamb killed by Bobcat

28. Coyote: A bloodthirsty killer?

29. “Fierce and cruel they appear to us, but beautiful in the eyes of God” John Muir on Alligators

30. Rolston’s reply Local disvalue to prey is value to predator, value to the prey species, and is systemically valuable “Ugliness here is only a projection; like the big bad wolf”

31. Forest fires aesthetically negative?

32. Amazon Burning

33. Recovery from forest fire Releases nutrients, resets succession, helps regenerate shade intolerant trees.

34. Worrisome counterexamples to positive aesthetics

35. Three-Headed Frog Disfigured monstrous animals Nature’s failures?

36. Mt. Saint Hellens (before)

37. Mt. Saint Helens (after)

38. Infrequent catastrophes Nature can’t adapt and evolve in response to them, so not clear they lead systemically to good/beauty Rolston sees “Ugly events as anomalies challenging general paradigm of nature’s landscapes w/o fail having essential beauty”

39. Helens recovery

40. Worries about Rolston’s strategy Reinterpret local intrinsic ugliness as systemic instrumental beauty Rolston shifting object of appreciation to the whole? –Saito: Rolston’s views imply that “The only legitimate object for our aesthetic experience of nature is the global ecosphere” (Aesthetics of Unscenic Nature 104) No; Rolston is insisting on importance of context for aesthetic appreciation of nature –Tiger in a zoo (or on the moon) vs in the jungle –Appreciate the particular in light of the whole Other worries: –Ecology makes these intelligible, but not beautiful? –How get from instrumentally valuable/necessary to aes positive?

42. Slides removed follow

44. + Aes for art at category level? Just as Rolston limits his + aes to landscape level, systemic perspective What if we limit + aes claim for art to the category level Each type of art is aes positive: Jazz music, folk, impressionism, ballet, surrealism –Some instances of these are ugly But unlike Rol account for itemized ugliness in nature, don’t want to say that bad artwork looses its ugliness when viewed in broader context

45. Positive aesthetics thesis not plausible for art Implausible to say artworks never badly done –Yet does say this for virgin landscapes; more or less + formed Can be no failures in nature (whereas there can be in art), as no artistic intention –Nature, unlike artist, can never fail as never tried

46. Are Lawns Beautiful? Deserve A Positive Aes Response? Need ecological knowledge to know why not Relies on env. unfriendly herbicides, pesticides Insensitive to indigenous plants Ignores local climate (water use)

47. “As long as people want large, green, closely mowed yards no matter what the climate or soil or water conditions, they will continue to use polluting gasoline mowers and a toxic cocktail of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.” Marcia Eaton

49. Two senses of objectivity/subjectivity One (location question): Is beauty (aes value?) is in experiencing subject or the objective world? Rolston, beauty in the subject (experiencer) not the world Two (justification question): Is there no better/worse, no appropriate or inappropriate aes responses to nature? Rolston no Believes in objectivity in aes responses to nature

50. Miscellaneous Rolston’s is a Humean position? Suggests human exp of beauty is accidental, epiphenomenal “By chance nature echoes our aes taste” Ignores that natural selection might have helped shape our aesthetic tastes –Carroll’s idea

51. Biophilia hypothesis Gordon H. Orians and Judith H. Heerwagen, "Evolved Responses to Landscapes," in Jerome H. Barkow, Leda cosmides and John Tooby, eds., The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), pages 555 ‑ 579. Judith H. Heerwagen and Gordon H. Orians, "Humans, Habitats, and Aesthetics," in Stephen R. Kellert and Edward O. Wilson, eds., The Biophilia Hypothesis (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1993), pages 138 ‑ 172. Roger S. Ulrich, "Biophilia, Biophobia, and Natural Landscapes," in Stephen R. Kellert and Edward O. Wilson, eds., The Biophilia Hypothesis (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1993), 73 ‑ 137.

52. What is in nature? Sci processes (and values they carry!) Predator/prey regulation, photosynthesis Nutritional value of the potato

53. Some value in nature, beauty not Beauty, like ethics, in human response to world and not in world Beauty a subjective value, not model for all value, as some value (biological value) is objective

54. Positive aes is an area level claim for Rolston: In a landscape, ecosystemic perspective, all qualities are positive to some degree

55. Putrid rotting elk carcass, full of wiggling maggots is revolting

56. Objectivity/subjectivity of beauty Is beauty in experiencing subject or the objective world? Rolston’s view: –Beauty (as aesthetic experience and perhaps also aesthetic value) is only in the subject –But what this aesthetic experience responds to, namely aesthetic properties, is in the world (is objective)

57. Rolston’s list of aes properties –Canyon’s abyss, fury of the storm, wildness of wilderness –Form, structure, integrity, order, competence, muscular strength, endurance, dynamic movement, symmetry, diversity, unity, spontaneity, interdependence, lives defended, creative and regenerative power, evolutionary speciation –Are these all aes properties? Are some (non-aesthetic) base properties on which aesthetic properties depend? –For example, graceful is an aes property that depends on some non-aes features of the movement of a deer

58. Aes properties in nature “call for” certain aes responses –We are not projecting these properties; they are there Objectivity in the sense that these properties exist in the world (apart from us) –What is out there is aesthetically worthy (calls for, merits a certain aesthetic response) Objectivity in the sense that our responses are governed by what is out there. –Analogy: Lines of latitude/longitude and contours on a map come from us but they map what is objectively there So too aesthetic experience responds to what is objectively there (aes properties)

59. Nonhumans have aes experience (of a certain sort) Aes exp comes in diverse forms Higher aes exp (scenic beauty, sublime) only had by humans If aes exp accompanies physical satisfaction If it is pleasure caused by way things appear to the senses –Eating a tasty meal –Enjoying warmth of sun Surely some animals have these experiences

60. Big-Horn Sheep Ram We admire muscular strength and power of ram Ewe is attracted to him and permits mating Plausible to think she experiences some of this (admiration? attraction?) Consistent w/ natural selection that this attraction registers in her experience

61. Peacock Peahen is attracted to peacock’s tail or it would be a liability and natural selection would have never preserved it Unless deny animals have experience at all, hard to deny they have nascent, precursor to aes experience