NOTICE: Remand Wi1l4ans and Alan Henteftere, eds. eect) Drstieh Analytical FetLerephy Pape uy 7 8. Cot Tendont Routledge ané Fegan Faul, 1966 13. CONTEMPORARY AESTHETICS AND THE NEGLECT OF NATURAL BEAUTY RW. HEPBURN OPEN an cighteenth-ceatry work on aesthetics, and the odds are that i¢ will contain a substantial treatment ofthe besstul, dhe Sublime, the picturesque in nator" Is tveatmen of at ny be secondaty and derivative, not its primary concern: Akio the sineteath century could not be said to tepeat these tame ems phases, they ceranly reappear in some itnpessive places Ia Rashits Medorn Points, for iastance—a work tint might have | Heengpuidd, no leis accurately, How to lok at ature tel eno | ieacsthetially."tn our own day, however, wiiiags on asthe, attend almost exclusively to the arts and very ely indeed ag | Ratunl beauty, or only in the mort pesfunciory mannes Aes | thetice i even jaa by some mi-eestary writes ae the pho ‘opty of ar, “the philosophy of erties analyst of the lay guage and concepts used in describing and pprasing sr objecte ‘Two much-quoted anthologies of aesthellr (Llten's ik ihe ountey, Vivas and Krieger's in America) contin nota single study of natural beauty entrada naa investi hence Bosss wh acl nen Se MULI Whi has this curious shift come about? For part ofthe answer ‘xe have o look not to pliloropher theories but to some general slufs in aesthetic taste sel. Tiss aleptimate procedure, sce, Aespite the diference of logial level berween them, judgements of tate and the theovisings of asthetice exert unstable i Auenes upon one anothee Relevant fact, then, ate these; tha forall the cult ofthe open i, the earavans, amps and excursions in the family car—serous aithele concern with natute i today "thera rae phenomenon. If we regard the Wordewotthan viion| asthe great pea in the ecen history ofthe sbjec, thea we have to say that the ground declined very shatpy indeed from that cxtraoediary summit, nd tat today we rorvey it from fr below, none dtection it quickly declined to the deeps of the mantis? ‘wn ‘ejection’ experiences, and in another to the forced ecstasies, and hypoctsis ofa fashionable and tvalizednatuce cult At its most deeply felt the Wordsworthian experience brought a te Lindling of religious imagination for rome who found it no Jonge sustained by the tadsioal dogmas. Buta ail more eadial loss of religious coafidence came to undermine the undogmatic Woudsworthin experience itl “The vanishing ofthe sense that nate is man’s ‘educator’ that, its beauties communicate more or lee specie morally ennobling ‘messages, thi is only one aspect ofthe general (and uch anal ‘bized) disappearance of» rationalist fth in natee's thoroughe {going intligibiiry and in its ulimate endorsement of hua sions and aspizations. The charactedii image of contemporary sman, a8 we all know, is tat ofa “stranger, encompatted by & ‘atue, which i indiferent, uimeaning and “absued “The work ofthe sciences 00, las tended to inereatebewilder ‘ment and loss of serve aver the sesthti ntegptetation of nats ‘Microscope and telescope have added vary to our pesceptal data; the forms ofthe ordioary ndseape, ordinaelly interpreted, ae shown up a only a selection fom cosndless different sales eis not suprising that (witha few exception) the artists them selves have turned from iaitation and representation to the sheet Creation of new objects, eewasding to contemplate in thei own tight If they are expresive of mote than prey formal relation: 16 ships then that ‘more ends 10 be not the alien external landscape bot the ines landscape of the aman psyche ‘On the theoretia level, thee ate other and distinctive reasons for the neglect of natural beauty in aesthetics sel especially in an aesthetics that secks to make itself incresingly rigorous: One such reason is that i we ate alming at an eniely general account of aesthetic excellence, this account cannot make esental refers fence to experience of (or imitation of) ratte; since there ate att like music which are devoid of any such teterence Some writers have been impressed by the face that certain eral feattes of aesthetic expetience ate quite unobtainable in nature landscape oes not minutely contol the spectators response to i as does succesifal work of art; i isan untamed ordinary object ia con taast to the framed, ‘esoteric, “lusory or ‘virual” chavnctee oF the artobject. And so the artefact i taken as the ascetic object ‘ar excl, and the propes faces of sti. Although ie is now very much in eclipse, the Ist widely a6 cepted united aesthetic system war the expression theory, No single new system has taken it place; and some ofits infacnees ae sill with us. The expression theoty isa commana theory it must represent aestheue experience of nature eithet 3 cont munication from the Author of Natute, which i ately docs, or lke (eather awkwardly as the discovery that nature's shapes and eolouts can with luck serve 28 expresive vehicles of human feeling, although never eonstracted for that end) ‘The theory ‘most ealily copes widh artefacts, not natural objects; wilh su cesfalinterpertonal communiestion, not the contemplation OF shcer ents ar enides. Although tome very tcent aesthetic analyses provide instruments that could be wed to tedess the lopsidedness of these emphates, they have not yet heen applied ‘extensively to this tsk ‘We may note, finaly, that linguistic or conceptual analysts have been understandably tempted to apply thee techniques fst and iy bi ht te not apps sey ea on seca oe (sald te mendgcl ta Berd book comala n x ‘oper ofthe ba gnc ey flere af tent neforemost to the arguments, outer arguments and manifetoes ying to hand inthe writings of exties ofthe acts In the eae of satutal beauty, however, such a polemical ideal, licraure scarcely exist, The philosopher mut fit work out his ours aes tailed and systematic account ofthe aesthetic enjoyment of caw, ‘And this he has 30 far been slow, o tluctant to do, Having outlined the sisation, the neglect af the sudy of ‘atual Beauty, Tnow want co argue thatthe neglect saves bod thing: bad, because aesthetics is theseby seca of om sera {ng an important and richly complex set of televant datas and bal Seite when user ef han cae eames an relevant to them, they tend tobe rendered less ealysvalble ce aperiences. If we cannot find sensiblesounding langage te which to describe them-—language ofa piece withthe tec tock azthei lk the expdience ate Fl, in an embaeased way. oe (ffthesmap; and, since of the map, seldom vised. This seule §s specially unforuuate, if for other reason the experiences ee already hard to achieve in some of thie vaietien at eae Whee theo, can contemporary aesthetics say on the topic of mateed beasty? 13a. one chapter study lke this the whole problem (of tangle of problems) cannot be teised out minutely, Thete must be dese Selecting among possible themes. Beating in mind he pence ofthis book, T have teed ia what follows to nthe Seco te compromise. On the one hand, the reader neds sore sarveylog ofthe philosophical sitvacon, some Indicating ofthe mals rae {eras of cortent argument and opinion; and on the othee teed (sowing how mach emptass i put upon minate lopial 'nalyais in Drtsh philosophy), he mart be provided with tome ‘amples of that—brief and tentative though they will are to be ‘This essay has begun with some very general tematke indeed. will move gradually toward discussing more specie and lead issues, and its lst topic of all wll be ite moat highly parton latized one. These various topes ate not so intimately rated ‘0 be links i a single chain of argument. But the ater discasaos sake fequeat and essential reference back to points made eaicg al his in one sense a compromise (a that neither the sarvey ‘or the analysis is moe than sketch); ut in anochet sense i ties to exhibit wha at alway egiimat, indeed accenaey. take Se fF the wee on aesthetics Hei ltadviced to do mrbig at os at penal surveying rhs work wold be oo poly ad emery ‘nel oh pcarsey emo smonomaniacal concen vith analy alone ean slg rie tunse; Keay preven even an itlgent chong Ses the analysis ie, and make kimpossblcto ree besnee ate alyct upon the inguity 25 8 whole far los eae he fete of ees andthe palsopy oe Yam sight tat eytemati destpion oe tain ack inthe teatment of our subject, my Kt obligation may wellbe epee some account of te vanes af aestnete pln oe eet But thee vavey is immense, and mete catlopsing ole te tedious I shall sugges, therefore two pineplenot lessee, may thow together some samples intresting in thereat etl for our subeeqent arguments First, we hae alteady remarked that art bjs have number of gene chaacerisics ot shared by hice ie ee Ee ould be otf if we could show nd dink be cay ae alt abseoce of certain of thee fetuses not men ape ee objects a asta, disengaged observer; but fac more typlelf tee objects envelop him on all sides. Ina forest, ces sirround hing he's ringed by hills, or he sands in the midst of s plain It hore is movement in the sene, he spectator may helt bein mares snd his motion may be an important element ia his eetince Pesience, Think, for instance, of a liderpiler, dcightng ins nse of buoyancy, in the balancing of the sitcastene tee hola him aloft. This sort of involvement is well expressed by Barbary Hepworth: ‘What diferot shape and ‘being’ one becomes lying onthe sand ‘with he sea almost above fom when standing agus the wind fn a acer high cif with sabiedsccling pean below [erwonrn, Ch ‘Wehave nt only a mutual involvement of spectator and abject, bout also a reflsive elect by which the spectator expercnsee ef. a0 nsual nd vivid way; and thin diference not etl noted, but dwelt upon aesthetically. The elects not wlsneen 39,as, epi architecture. ti bath more inten eized and pervve In atreexperence—for we ef nate an 2 rtf tare; we donot sand over against ia over apart & fain onal Tas study were ona ager wale, we should have o aan det the valour sents of dctachinent and ‘involvement tat se eleant here. Ths would prove snore sppetyivenigaton {han i the eae of stapprecation; buts fenscding one Some fort of deachinent there cenainly iy inthe sense at 1m not tung nator, manipolting io elelating how to manip Buttam bot actor and spectaton ingredient in he ndseape sed lingering pon the sensors of being tho ingredient, joking in thee muluciovsnes, paying atively with tatu, ed ting sata, 2 were ply With ne and my seme of myeele. My vecond spedmen Is very simi thooghy 1 ink, woth lating spat Though by no means slabs have fer or pels, they share» common charter Belng curt Irom thie environment, and set apt ina distinctive way We ‘might ws the words "anand ised ina extended, 0 Covet ol the ph Bou ope ba a “atious devies employed inthe diferent ar to prevet tear ‘beet being misiten fra natural objeto fora arte wth foot ssthetic interest. Que ist of frames, in ts wide sense, ‘would inte the division between stage area and suience tea Inthe thee, the enceevconventon har the only setetly selevant sounds ae thre made bythe perfrmety the layout of « tage ina book of poems, whet ypopaphy and spacing tt the poem apr from ies, pagenambers,ctil sppants sod foot ‘ote, Such deve ar bet thought of nid othe rcopnion Of the formal cmplinar of the acvabjectsthemcven the 2biey co susan sextet nest an interest that not eocaly dependent upon the telaonshipe between the object sad i general environment Cera, fs envitonment ay enhance ot Sean ts efer; and we may even ee pasts of the tavitonment Ina new way as. ek of contemplating an abject Bat his doesnot aot the ental point tha thee works ofa ate fist and foremost bounded objcs, that thee sethte carats Ste determined by thei itera structre the interplay of thle ‘evens Ta const, atu objets ate framees This iin some ways 9 4 disadvantage aesthetically; bu there ate some remarkable com: Pensating alvanages. Whatever lies beyond the frame of a4 at ‘object cannot normally become pate ofthe aesthetic espericnce selevant tt. A chance train-whisl enn be integrated into the vile of stsing quaeer; ie merely interferes with is apprecation, Dut where there i no fame, and where nature is our aesthetic ‘object sound ota visible itrsion from beyond the oval boundaries of out attention can challenge us to Inegeste iin out ‘overall experience, to modily that experience #0 4s to make tone for it. This, of course, ed not ocsur; we may tut tev by flor of will if ie seems quite unascinlable Ae any tate, ou creativity is challenged, seta task; and when things go wel with 1, we experience sudden expansion of imagination tha ean be ‘memorable in its own right, “Aad, when there cme a pase Of sires sacha bale i beat sil ‘Then someties in that sllence, while be hung Listening, genie shock of mid surpne Has eared fr into his heart the woe OF mountain orem; Wordsworth: Thre Were By If the absence of ‘fame’ precludes fll determinateness and sta bil in the naruel aesthetic object, atleast oes in return such unpredictable pereptual surpive; and thcie mere. possibilty impats to the contemplation of nature a enve of adventurous openness* Something mote definite can be std on the determinate and Jndeterminate inthis connection. In, x4, 2 painting, the fame ‘csures that each elemeat ofthe wotk is determined in it pee ‘zived qualities (Iaciading emotional quate) by limited ard Aefnite context. Colour modifies eolout and form modifies form; Yet the frame supplies a boundary to all tlevant modifiers, sac * Unescudpnenoain eet ate ely pct in peeion 9a ° thus, any given colour or shape ean be seem ia successful pi ing, to have a detetminate, contextually controled chaacter Obviously, this is one kind of determinatenss that casot be achieved with natural objets; and that for several texsone, To onset only one of them: the aesthetic impact made upon ws by, say, 4 Uc, is partdeteemined by the cantext we inelode in ot view of A tee growing on a seep hillslope, ben far over by the winds, may ste us as temacios, grim, sttined. Bue fom & [restr distance, when the view incades numerous simula tees the hile, the striking thing may be a delightful, stippled, partetned slope, with quite diferent emotional quality qusouie ft cheery* So with any aesthetic quality in natee; i lsalways Provisions, correcible by reference to diferent, pechaps wee ‘contest, o {0.4 narrower one relied in greater deta. An ‘lic scene? But you haven't noticed that advaacing, dough il sistas, thundercloud. Now you have noticed it, andthe whole feng fakes on a new, thestened, ominous look" In posisne terms this provisional and elusive charactet of sesthetic ualiies in nature creates a testlessnes, a alerneis 2 seatch forever new standpoints and or more comprehensive esas Of this reser ‘ess ant of this seatehTshll, very shortly, have mote to say, ‘My last point on the pretent topic i this. We ean dsingish, in tough and ready way, between the particular aesthetic it pact ofa objet, whether natural or artefact, and certain gener “background” experiences, that are common to 4 geest many scwthetic stations and ar of asthe value la themselves. With an arvobject, there isthe elarating activity of coming to grasp ins intelipblty a a perceptaal whole. We find bil ia guides interpretation, and contetual coatols for out tesponss: We ate aac ofthese features as having been expestly pat thece by its sretor. Now I think that ve ean locate neatly parallel but inuetestingy diferent background experience when out objet Is fot anarteftct but a natural one. Again, iris kind of exilastion, in this aa delight in the fact dha the forms of the ratoral world afer ssp forthe exercise ofthe imagination, that lea pateta chimes with vein of pater, eloud form with mouetain form snd ‘mountain orm with human form, On atheistic view ths beget distinaive sort of wonderment atthe ‘anstry’ of God. On a naturale view i ean beget atleast no less wonderment a his "On email qua Ihave wineewhee ewes) ts uncontived adaption Inde is pronounced tobe “Beautful—not in the narrower sense of that word, which con feasts “beaufl” with ‘pcturesqae” or ‘comic, but in the wide seose equivalent to 'sesthetically exeleat—an important pat of ‘ove meaning is just this, that nature's forms do provi this scope for imaginative play. For that it surely net analytically tue; it might have been otherwise have been aguing tha certain impottan dierences between ‘natural objects and att objects should not be seen a enaling the aesthetic wnimportance of the former, that (on the contest} several of these difeences Furnish grounds for ditincuve arat valuable types of aesthetic experience of natute. These ate typet of experience that art eanaot provide ta the same entet as aver, and which in some eases ie cannot provide a Supposing that a person's aesthetic education fils to reckon. with these diferences, supposing it ists in him the sttades, the tates of approach, the expectations proper to the appre tion of artworks only, we may be soe tat such a person wil either pay very lite seschetc heed to natural objet, or ele will hed them in the wrong way. He wil look—ant of course look Jn vain—for whae can be found and enjoyed only in are Further, more, ne cannot beat all certaia that he will seriously ask him ss whether thete might be other tacticy other stitades and expecations more proper and more frsitfl forthe aesthetic precaton of nature. My sampling of thee ‘illesnce’ therfore, Is nota merely introductory exercise in distinction malig Tt has the polemical purpose of showing that unless there ditnetions ace ‘reckoned with both in aesthetic eduction and thearicing. one can ‘either intligendly pursue no adequately compschend experience of natural beauty, save only i ts most idimentary forts ‘So much forthe listing of neglects an! omisions I want now to turn to something mote constractve, and to take ts sat certain eeeortent and prima fave atactive ways in which ‘aturl eauty as infact besa attended to and deseribed both in the past and present. Tsay ata starting-point’, because | do not plan to examine in deta specific philosophical theories that have Incorporated ther. Rather, we shall take note of those appteachen, the characteristic vocabulary that poes with them, and ingot ‘how fa (ital) they poiat to an aesthetic of natural beauty thse could be viable today. 2Accounts of trl Beaty sometimes focus upon the conte lating of single natura objects inthe vty an gees fess (ot an example~Pepta Flaca anasto contemplation of single fling lea [Vinten Ch, Other Ser, with greater metahysl daring or rashes spl ot the enjoyment of natural beauty sterling towards an fc of ‘oneness with nature’ ora lading to the disclosure of uns fa fata, The formulations vary grey aod aubstanally ong themelves; bur the voebaasy of ua, oneness at he her aesthetic principle, isthe recutet them, (On this pois terminal Note, pot) “There are tong influence in contemporary Bris piloconhy that prompt one to have the full sympathy wih a aia approach vo atu Beauty the Contemplation of iad object with thee athetialy interesting eteptol quis, tod to have very lle sympathy forthe mow panos peel Sve and uasiaystial language of oneness with ofa natate Yet itsezna tome tat ne doot have here ene good ted sas tad aesthetic approach, the fat sane and the steond adnan Rather, we have two poles or wellacparted landnahs beeen which a range of este pestlue; and inthe mapping of ‘hi range those lndmacs il play a vale, perhape sector syle ‘Weimust begin by tal denying she universal aed for unity, nity of form, quality, srorae or 6f anything elses We can te deste pleasure in shee pur, othe a ofthe night Sy, ina birdsong without beponing, mle or end ‘And yet to make unity in sre sense, ons key concept need sot be dinplywtonpheaied or obscurs: Nor do we have © $y hee limp, tat there are wo dict and untelated types desta exeellence, one tht contemplates indivadal une. ‘esand the othe--no beter or worse sme ged ‘Synthesis wane argue tha thre ae certain incompleteness in the experience ofthe iolated pasta, that Produce tint towards ce ote pol, the polo nity. Accuracy, however wl fequie us to deny tht there i 4 single type of unifenion ot Sinton; thee are several atone fob distngised wih the ‘ea, ard the elatons betwen them ate quite complet, 2 One such dtecion of developmeat we have already noted: < "Coa rene En ‘namely, the sins towards mote and mote comprehensive of adequate survey of the contest that determines the pereived qualities of a natural object or scene. Ove motives ate, pat the este for a certain integrity of eath in out aesthesic experience ‘of nature; and ofthis more shoe. In past also we ate prompted by our awatenes chat in all aesthetic expeience it Is contest complexity that,moce than any other sng ator, makes pore the minute disctimination af emotional qualiesy and auch iscrimination is accorded high aesthetic value. I is lepely the Prsuit of such value that moves us to acepe what I ented “the challenge to itegrate’—to take notice of and to accep as sethete cally televant some shape or sound that iitaly Les outnide the limit of ous attention. "Challenge" wat not, I think, sn over amatic word to we, Por we can contrast the stereotyped experts nezs of the aesthetically apathetic and unadventutous person ‘with the schly and sobay diversified experiences ofthe azthed cally courageous pesson. His courage consist in his tefsal heed only those features ofa natural objector scene that most readily come together ina familiar patter or which yield a coms foringly geveralized emotional quality Iealto involves aking the Fepeated sk of drawing a blank, of fading oneielf unable to hold the various elements together a single abject of eontersplaton, o¢ to ec any sgniiane aesthetic epesience ftom them at al, ‘The expansion of contest may be aspatial expansion, butt Joes ‘ot have tobe spatial, What else ean it be? When we contemplate Anatual object we may see it aot as eand-dune o tock bt 48 coloured shape. If his is dificult, we ean look atthe woeld ‘pride dowo, with out head between ovr legs. ut although an scsthete view of an object will tive to shake feee fom conver onal and deadening conceptualaings, that isnot to sy that all lncerpretings, all'seings as. ate lapses 10 the non nertheie We ought not to accept a dichotomy of pore aesthetic contr Plation’—impure admixture of associations. Soppose lam walk. ing over & wide expanse of sand and mud. The quality of the ‘scene is peshap that of wil, glad emptiness, It suppose that 1 bring to beat upon the Seene my knowlege tha this fs tidal basi, the tide being out. The realization is not estheily levant [sce myself now as virally walking on whisk for half the day sea-bed. The wild glad empriness may be tempeced by. 4 disturbing weirdness, 1932 © Ths sora expesinc can seal he eed othe movement Xe Wer examining, the moverenttowatds mor coneler et Compichensive spans. In adaiion to sata etn {ometines intend of we may am a ei ean {ve lemen ling th not hood noche eg objet or seve ba as heli to dacrmiae the see nee ie aes upon vs "Uni" hate pays a purely Sega ae Nantes not given whole, nor inded is ease eos But in any ete, thete ate pesca, poyhologie Iota de ‘xpasion proces; degee of compleuy 2 eed bo shich there wll en incase in dutiutation Sheep Seiorl quate: ther te revere, ‘A second movement away fom contemplation of wrinterpeed uta somtimes know the nenariog oe ea tualzing’ of mature. Tshall merely notes exten ed es het fot ther have ena good many aceon of tinte ees of acsthties, Cleidge sid that "Artin the poets phe, bing nature, of iafoxing the thoughts und penton of ata {£10 thing which iste objec of hs comenlaton [eorenns Vol i nd Hepes te sim of tei hese ea ofits bom foelganes its, Inraecton Wher oe ‘ai about ate no ls tus of sate capercnge eae se Imaginative avi ts working for & Species es, the spectator and his acta objec any ages ec oto, symbol of de unsaid complete Saco oe brat exteenalnatice ico a mito the ee By developing and gualifing te “maantation del we can come tovee eta ied spe oftheir oa who contrmpaes mtu bjects aeshely wa serene fnd tat ht eraional quality i decease of oxdnary an moods and eeliage-mdanchly cea Blaity a many ess, kowever, fe wl fin hg ey ea all acutely desrbablein such terms A pation ona sual canbe fophly entre tomenametichanesre oon desolation for instace bt the rece qulty ef deletes eae in some waste ot dee in mature may be ute dogo 'n tbe and ites. To pr th anshet wayne en es "ature find sapes and sounds that ean be akea ee orks ‘ment of human emotion andins fares hs ocean, rene a to be humanized. Dac instead of mature beng heen ee 196 Een may. happen. Aesthetic experince of nature may be ‘rbesiene of range of emotion tat he human scene by fae ntutored and unsupplemented, could not evoke, To caent ae HOPE of these temacks, recall once agtin wut queuing eee ‘hy inthe modifying of one's everyay sense of cnc eek Tn ths dornin apa, we need ek ree een Hig. gente, of aie, wine partcrfa eee itera | may ‘see ao blood vente poncran oe te pS branching foked lightning: or all ofthese ns nae of puter ay se the aterm of swing unc oc wbiog {may be avate of «network of afites of aralopoes ko {Bint the inorganic othe organi world of bon My ei eeibanes, that may be because we have ourselves haces {Sercign to out everyay,unetamined notion of ourelves, ear, htabgh ny asmiaon of matures fous to pe unteae cern Jimages or perceptions jf fourth clas of approaches tothe ideals of ‘unity is itselé inthe heterogencout; bot we can chance i mentee Glows. They ae, once again, concerned lst withthe eee Saehtround is sense of reconciliation, stpemion of cot and of being in tat sense stone with the aethetc oyecn fa, Pactcular sort of ‘atone-nes” could haedly be eee ye SxPeiene, since ic requies thatthe aesthetic obj seta esoO we tave to protect ourselves in order to live, which tefuses 10 Sustain our individual lives beyond a limited term, and to which we are finaly “united” in'a manner fae dleent from those en. ‘isaged in the aesthetic ideals of ‘unity "Rolled round in eats diuenal course With rocks and stones and teees’ To tin, and sustin, the clevane detachment from auch an envisonment it totder to savour i aesthetically isin ill 2 fie achievernent an achievement which sufuses the aesthetic expetences themselves with tha sense of reconciliation. A ceasefire has been negotiated in ovr struggle with nature “There is immense variety inthe ways in which eis ean manifest itsefin individual experience. The objects of mature maylook tous asf thee raion de were preczely that we should celebrate thelt beauty As Rilke put its Everythi beckons to us to perceive ie? Or, the dominant stance may be that of benediction: the Ancient ‘Maines "blesses the watersnakes at his moment of reconciliation ‘The fourth type of unity ideals notably diflesent fom out Bist thee specimens The fst theee quese afer unity lathe particular aesthetic perception itself: the atainment of complex uned synopses, the grasping of webs of afiites and so on, The fourth, however, could arse in the contemplation of what is self quite unified inthe above sense, the night shy again, ors mas of ‘te with no detectable pater co unit chem, Ieis ote tity a ‘oncomitan, or a by-product ofan aethetle experience that we ae already enjoying, an experience in which there may have been ‘0 synoptic grasping of patterns, rcatng of forme ot aay othet sort of unifying suspect that someone who tried to construct a comprehensive aesthetic theory with "uity’ ait sole key concept would obtain Ss cmon onl by epvocting or pang ove he ‘meaning ofthe hey expression, only by sliding and slithering from ‘ne of is many senses to another, When one seve is not appl- ‘able, another may wel be. The fourth rene in pateslae ean be televant to vivid aesthetic experience of any natutl object oF colleaion of abjets whatever, So much the worse, we may conclde, for such a theoey gus ‘monolithic. But co say that is not to imply that out study has yielded only negative fesults. This is only one of several areas ia Aesthetics where we have to eesist the temptation to work with a single supreme concept and must seplace it bya cuter of elated 198 ‘ey conecs ets in snchig ou the relevant Ly cone, the space pseudorconeept may yer be a use ponds ie ths present ease, We shouldbe advised, however wo take tie ‘luster of uity-coneepes as by itl adequate forall copanaten, Papo Ouran ated hte sarcomere ‘niterpteted, unrelated natural objec ina fe patcaty individual datiocness. This was not a mecestrtng eee eee ‘eft behind in oue pursuit ofthe “antics” On aie mantae sei expetae temas tethid to that conn wh te atlas, evenifon along rope. The rope is hems athorgh development and vitality of that expetince demsod tat he sectched tothe fll The ull ofthe tope iskwhenthe pene ing and complicating of our synopses reaches terol boreal which we shall have nt more but les fine dscrniation nines epost quality, Is fl agai, when we sik the Weenie ea gating of eat forms ate rely perecve thm, mas ans ‘tempt to limit out experience of tature a tit eae stereotyped and well domeated emotional aides I evcn felevant to out fourth ype of wy idea forthe seme of tenn livion i not an indepenien and atonomous serhese caper nee, but hangs ently upon th occurrence of patel enfea eh of paar ashe interesting ated obese Up to ths point my aim ba been clely to dees some Yates of sete eaperence of ature: From hee ee ake the following inferenes.() Although sone inpeneey features of acespetence are unattainable in natute th by ee means eile the aetetan fo cone ht tude oat) ven thes points of parent prvstion an yield pes of ache apetince that are well worh analysis () Accoeans ofeeead Sau ha take ‘uy’ a tee ental sonep teen mete plasty extwagant and are ehronally unpecepe of an Biguies in thee clans. Nevertheless, 4 caudous seston would be unwise o let this extnvagance delec him faa Fatinty teasing out the numerous and important stsnds or ‘apeience that olgnally prompted thse sechont, 1 turn now to second main ope. Abhoogh recent aeieties tas been ltl eaneened with asf bentyns Seah pene courte of is analysis of arrespeience, it hn fog i ‘omparions between our sate approach tan ent we ° »a £ ‘objects in nature. I has made these compatisons at crucial pointe inargument, and in several diferent sort of contert, Dut what hat fot been asked—or adequately answered-—is whether the com. paring hasbeen fly done; whether, n pila, the account of| fatureexperienee, given of presuppose, is an 'adequate or a distorted account. Ove discalsion of some “vaietice”may have furnished us with wefl data, ‘A sbstanl pat of recent aesthetics bas been the eis of the expression theory of art. Right atthe centre of this ei isthe denial that we need concern ourselves with decovering the fteation othe actual feelings oF intations of the artist, when we lay wapprediate orto appraise his artefact. The expestion theory sa the artefact 36 the muddle ink ina communication from ait to spectator; the cis of the theory tee the artlact fet and foremost as an object with certsin properties, properties which te, or shouldbe, aesthetically interesting, worth contemplating, And which in thei toalty control and guide the spectators ‘espouse This change of emphasis chimes in well withthe desire fora ‘eentifie’ eric (the properties ae dere in the artefact the objec, and withthe antipeychologstie mood of current British’ and American philosophy (the work of artis not an “imapinaey" one: and we are aot probing behind i to is creator's stuces of sou). Clearly this isan aesthetic approach thet reduces the golf be- tween arcobject and natural object. Both ae to be approached pearly as individual, eel'contained eats, exciting to cone femplate by virtue of he objective properties they ean Be seen £0 possess# But, letus ak, how fa ean we accept this comparison? Cities ofthe eis have pointed out rome deficiencies. They ave inslted, for instance, upon the ineducible elevance of linguini, socal and eutaral conteet tothe interpretation of poctn. The ‘denial words might constitute ov poems, not one if we tend ‘them in two diferent content. We eould extend this rtm tet ice won to les ehh mae eee oe Pamala ote veo een sespesaoet ‘std tout oer nda and ene ba enenon bayonet seo 4 follows. Suppose we have tuo peteeptally iden objets, ‘be a atefict and the other natal. hey igh be 4 eee stone of Aep and natn smoothed ston, a erving in ed anu a pec ofl tmber. Orthey might been! apis, though ot in material for example a tock face with apc texte and mackings and an sbtac expression palsy with the sane texte andthe same makings If we made the nose op the rppracemat, we should have to tay that we bad tn ach ot thes ates extention aesthaie objec (Alough nomeealy 80, the Fai would be no mote sertheicalydiferens fom og atotier aa two engravings fiom the sae Beck) Ye tee would be misleading conlasion. If we kncw them fos wht hay ae—as artefact os maul objects should cry stead ae ferety to them, and tesponddiercnly totes Awe ook the rock fae inate, we may realize imaginatively the seal, gical pressures and turmoil Bat produced te paces the fealing of these need not bes pec of ext acsthe secon ‘try determine for ws how we se and respond tothe obec sell If eiterpreted and responded to he stat paca same way (assuming, of course, tha ita thorceghpoe ae sac and not the repezentation ofa tek facet) ene eeicte tion would this tne be rely whisuieal, ao mote cotelled Stabile tan a seeing of faces inthe fre" If we abies fe steed sesthetcexpeience both of natate and tte the con, templating of unncerpcted shapes and patterns, we cout of outs have he eprom. Bat web sen goo enon Cot fefsing 20 to rest iti the case of ature eapeionce waters Bete cue wth are * “ake another example, Through the eyepiece of a telecope I see the spiral nebula in Andromeda I look next sean sheen Palatina lla frame that contin the dente! vial pa, tema, My responses ate ot alike even itech i inioputlely aesthete My avatenes thatthe ist shapes neu enemy nd emote raties of mater in motion inparh to ny seapone a strangeness a solemnity that ate not penetated Uy the panceaAlone. The abseact pte may indeed impress by termining me af vaous wheling and swing paterneln mature: Dut tte 2 deren between ting the pater that sort of reminder, 4nd, on the oer tan, brooding on ths inpresive stanton ot tin he nebula, Furthermore pola ey tad shoot the ‘motive background” 10 athe experience i eleven hee sai ere cot wat wekgow kesh S87 4 pulninge-we have no spec thock of supe a 8 tnere discovery that tere sre paterns here which delghe pee {Eption; we know tat they have been pt thee, hough cea wwe may be attonished at thelr patel asec excelences With natural objec howeven, such supe an Bore i portant in out overall responce, a surprise that i probaly the Breuer the mare remote the objet fom our ever ony envio ‘A more lightheaned but helpl way of bringing out these pins is to supose ounlves eonfronted by # all objec, ise ny beu ybenc e dea the tak of repeding sete T spose that we night es pon itn uneasy and embarrased eye How hall we {proach hal we, forisance se ints santas the sow ‘unless grinding of cenuces of des, or the owe and mand Sperins ofthe selpar'stols? Cena, we ea eoy rome: thing of ts purely formal quaiies on eter rechoning bet ven the savouting of thse Is sfeced by nom formal Ecos that diverge acoeing to the [adgemeat"we take abouts “Forum up his argent On the rebound froma view of at as cxpresion, as angeage, andthe work of act the medium of ommnicaion between ast and spectator, tome fecent ae {het as been urging tat thesia iy ft and focemos an ‘objet among objec "The sai of ar primal the wd of Such objet thee obrerable quale, tei organization. Ths ‘ing fom intention fo object hasbeen heal on the whole, tivecingssthetis nd eitcam fom a get dea of ltr Jnbou. But bas eounteed the paradont of expressonsn with paradoxes, oF ilsminatng exaggerations, of te ovm, Diflerenees Between object and objec nee to be refine idaceriay Aifrent poems or eavingsbeeose dseribly diferent when we techn wi hi sete elev earl coments; and he io coatextual controls that determine how we contemplate an abject in natuce ae diferent from those that shape out experience of nother words, we have here central eurren isc in aesthetics that cannot be propety tackled without fll scale discuaion of paral beast. ‘That, however, is not the only cutee jesue about which the same canbe said, Tecan be sald also (and thie inveodces out Beal topic) aboot the analysis of such expressions ay ‘true, fale, ‘profound’, ‘shallow, supesca a terms of aesthetic appraisal ‘These have been studied in thee application to atabjecs, but scately alin connection with nature It might indeed be con tested whether they have ayy meaaingfl ure in the latter cons ‘ection, I should realy ada that ordinary language ean gave ‘ery lie help here; but Tam equally sure that use or uses ean be sven to these expressions in that context, and that such uses ‘would be closely related to the more familia uses in alk about att But would this not constitute a merely arbitrary and pointless ‘xtesion of a vocabulay useful only in atesitcistn? Not realy ft would rather be to give comprehénsivenes 104 set of dines, ‘minations important throughout aesthetic experience, but which ‘has tended for various understandable reasons to be worked out in detail only with respect to a Whete then, inthe aesthetic experience of nature, is thete any room for cling of ‘truth’, ‘depeh,“ivaly’? We ean best ape proach an answer by way of some analysis of an exprestion which ‘we have used once or twice already but aot explained, Ie ina sense of the word ‘realize Here ate some examples of the use "l had long Anson thatthe eath was not fat, but I had never before reaied ts cucvatre til | watched that ship diappest onthe hot 200. ‘Thad sen from the map thatthe was a deserted moos, but not till T stood in the ene of i did T teslze its desolation” Here ‘realize’ involves making, or becoming, vivid to pereeption, ‘orto te imagination, If sudacaly realize the height of earulo simbus cloud Tam not simply king noe ofthe eight, lat imag jing myself climbing into the cloud in an aeroplave oe falling through t,o 1am superimposing upon tan image of a mountain fof known vasiness, of. Aunilayimagings ray hikewie attend my realising of he eats carvatae, she mae of ny sone 395stcchod out, ingerseeaching round the sphere and the elon ton of lonclines may involve imagining my showing bat Ising urea, neding help ba geting nove In sre emt, 0 realize something is simply to ‘know? or ‘undensand where ‘Chow and undesaod are analysatieta sponidonal time Dot cout present sense of'elze’ hasan rental piso component: itis coming-o-beawarea “lockable experience In he a= the eting at ere i a expen compan tad aking’ out of pereepions—perepions spon whch’ we Aven nge: Tat gang athe cmul-nmb con when tena its high We do st diced, o pus bepond the exer fe, at if we were jadping the heighe of the cloud in fight tvigadon, ofthe lonlins of the moor in plasing 4 mute Realizing in ou ene, snot estimating oe elelang. When { am tld tat the moon is sold spheral Body, 109600 mes from teenth, I may go outside and look up at and try, in the acsthetealy relevant see, o veal ite solidity and ts distance, Reference to peteption ca again be made obvious, We could not sevously ash ouseves “Am yin fc accurately tealing is dlnance at scoco miles, ot a mistakenly inagining He a ‘go,00?" Such dieiination ear be made ere hey nly be lela “Though we have no coom 0 muliply example, should be obvious hat is sot of easing is one of or ee aces n the aesthetic experiencing of nti. Iehas Been central in eater Isto, Ge contemplation of he rock fe, he spiel cba, the oes smoot soe Bet my suggestion dat cealing is episod, oxcuent, may propery be chalenged, Suppose tat Iam redsing the weet Toneines ofthe mooe, when suddenly 1dncover hae behind Suny bs of cover ae a great many solders thing patina Feiner, Could J, without Hogi, main Dat I had Been felisingwhae was ao in at theese? Hal. "Redize’ contains ‘bin reference truth, Keay ave episode components, but ie cannot be exhatively analysed in tat way. Leanna be eid toaveredized the suength and hardnes of ll teeth She T then approach crumbles on ata touch Dut suey Ts doing omer: iy experience did ace; and nothing thst ‘sbiequely occurs ean her i (2 Now, this experience was, of cous, the asta conten o 4 tion of apparent properties. That they turn out not 10 be also actual properties may distur the specator, or it may not. For some people aesthetic experience is interested nota alin actuality only in looks, eemingsindierenceto trth maybe part of tele Acinition of the aesthetic Ifthe solders appear or the tee crumble, the aesthetic value ofthe puior experiences is (o those people) ot inthe lest alfected, ‘Dot i is posible to take a rather diferent view. One could agece that a large range of aesthetic experience is not concerned sbout truth; but yet atach a pecula importance to the range that is. Tam not suce that the gulf between thie and the contested view is wholly Bridgeable by argument, but some reflections can De feed along the following lines. fwe want our aesthetic experiences to be repeatable and tahave stable, we shall ey 2 ensue that new information or subsequent experimentation will not eveal the seeming lutions, will not make mock, as it were, of ou fst experience FT know that the tee is rotten, 1 shall not be able agin to savour its seeming: strength Teould, ao doube, savour ite 'deceplvelysttong appeat= see's but that would bea quite diferent experiene from he fis, fnd one tat acepted and integeated the truth about the tees cual rotenness, Suppose the outline of our cumulo-aimbus cloud eesembles that ‘of basket of washing, and we amuse ouseives in dwelling upon this reiemblance. Suppose tat on another ocesion we dwell not ‘pon such freakish (rin Coleridge's sense fneifal)acpecte, but tay instead to realize the inner tutbulenee ofthe coud, the winds steeping up within and around i, determining its stractore and visible form. Should we aot be eadyto say that this later exspesi= nce was less superficial or contrived than the othe, that twat tnuer to natore, and for that reaton more worth hing? Os, com. pate agtin the realising of che pressures, thrstings and great age ofthe rock before us, wth merely chuciding over the Hkeness of its matkngs toa fanny face I there can be pasage ia at from easy beauty to dificult and more serous beauty, there can also be such pasage in aesthetic contemplation of nature chere were not astrong mia in that direction, how could we account forthe sense af bewilderment people expies over how to bring thee aesthetic view of astute into accord with the dis soveties of eecent scence? Because of these dicoveris (at Sie 3A.W. IRYBURN: CoNrEORARY ABETIIENES AND Hit mo Greate ama Teearetyearstegnane ‘eae. eich Ck wing oa and iy bt pin ae Start 2 306 tccing even thi tee posi foe al eases where we attempt {0 feiss the natute of the objects contemplate, And this acy the diiealty we fc with regard tothe beating of presen, dy science on our vision ofthe natural world, Soseiings eae steps at realizing fal aogether, a8 with some Versions of con Iologes and eosmogonis; or if they do succenl they tay be Aesthetically leak and untevarding. Compromises, the balating fone asthede requizement pains another, we ree csong snd may well be inevitable. One may say in patcsss ase? ‘This isthe neatest Ian come to making imaginatively visio chax know about tha object. My realising isl ot que aloqune tomy knowledge; but if were wo go ay farther in that dvetuee 1 should lose touch altogether with the sight, sounds and sone ments ofthe visible world, seen fram the human point of ne, Aad that would iespovetth, not entich my tal aesthetic ox, Pelenee’ What we shouldbe feling, (eed I soy), the tog of that rope—the sope that tethers actthetie experienc tothe tec ception ofthe particule objet and is percetvedindwsdesic ‘Tobe able to say anything mote confident sbout this peotlem, foe would need to hold 2 metaphysical and religious view of ‘ature and scence, which deed tat the imaginative ssculating of siemifc knowledge could uimtely lea to aesthetic impovee Jshment. Probably Ciistian thelsmis one such views and Goethes Philocophy of nature seems to have been another, These pou Ines we can only tke note of inthis exay, without being able to explore them. We may recall a the same time, and in conclusion, that the ‘usta’ accounts ofatutl beauty have, Nstorialy, been closely allied with various sorts of pantheim and mate mystcheg have argued that there are, in fc, not one but several iy. ‘deal; that iis mos unlikely thst any single sethes experience can fully and simultaneously eelize them als and T belive tee with certain of them the notion of full alization mates dubloes sense Neverteless, it does not follow that te ides ul ee oe ‘more intese and comprehensive realization is withont values nog that the link with nataresmystcl experiences must be someeh ng Although I ean only hazatd this suggestion inthe most tents tive way, Tsuspect tat no more materials ee tequitad hanes ‘vith which we ate alteadyfarsithed, in onder to tender svalatis 107estan limited vatites of mystical exptiene, and logialy to imap them. ‘Those materials provide us, not with alhemations bout a tanscendent beng of teal bat with a fora mia, that can playa relative and practical role inthe aesthetic com. templation af nate sees hat contemplation a grounded, rst sid lst, in paticula perceptions, but a reaching out £0 a8 €2 felate the forms of the objects perceived to the pervasive and base forms of nacre; relating it also tothe observer's own stance snd setting, as hel one item in natucea nature with whore forces he fels in harmony through the very success of this contemplative activity ise ‘But even if something ofthe intensity and momentousnest of mystical experience ean be reached along sch ines, thie would be forall Ihave sad or stall saya mysticism withouta God. And ‘surely the absence of belief in tansceadence would make this quite diferent fom a myetiiam that admis it and centre upon it Dislecent, indeed, inthe quality of avalable experience and in ‘expectations aroused both for the hereand:now and the here ffter; but not so radically diferent as to make ‘mysticism a mis- ‘homer forthe former. Beli ina tanscendent being means tht, for the believer, the ‘focus isnot imaginary but actual in God: and iti doubulerspeyehologically easier to work towards a goal fone believer t0 be fully realizable than towards a foc one believe, or ropect, tobe imaginary. Rather snilaty, in eles, 2 student may evetcise a chee to his practical moral confidence, ‘when he discovers that ‘oughts cannot be grounded ini. Yet itis eeldom that he indulges foe this reaton ina permanent moral ‘lk, Pethaps, f am righ, le is no more reatonable to indelge [ratuitousy in a natue-mystcal sulk But I begin to moraize: 2 ign that this paper has come tits proper end Norm ro race 295 (6) Gehan Hough's Imag and Experi (6) conans some sg gerive reflection stemming from hi dicason of Raskin and Roget Bey. By intense contemplation of. experiences ffm sed space we ‘become conscious ofthe unity between ourselves and the natal ‘worl [itouen p73) is Ruski speci sition to show... how the expsince olthesenseetan end iret tothatuniiedappeebenson a tre, CO. toilet ourstves tapas of tue, which on fy cantly be mo sot recognize, under vation mythological disgust only 2 that hich gives value vo sestheteexpeiene but also at ont of the {major consaations of plop. Hous. #76) (We have quoted (p85) Bah volvement ofthe specter and atu aetice abject the changes the sense of one's own being, aeearding to one's postin isthe end scape She goes on inthe sme atobiogaphiea sketch 0 cll thi ‘ransrtation of tential ity with la ad seascape, hich deve: ‘rom ll the seatilies Hepworth on the stu i (@ Te matuesmystial interpretation of the experince of wis: ‘wth mature i bly stated by Evelyn Underhill in bee Ann. Tn ‘moments of ntenze love foc the natal worl, “hin of « marvelous truth, unity whose note is lef pee, shine in crested thiage [Usoeanny #7 W. 7, Sace, listing the common characteristics of ‘entcovetive _mptcisn’ (which aatre nya belongs), inclades the olowing. “The One iss. perceived though the physel sents, not through the mulpliciy of objets” Alsat "The One i apprehended more co ctl a being an inee subjectivity i all thing, described varouly 1 le, ox conciousness, oes living Presence Hie addes "Tse ne Underground connections between th mystic and the teste ‘which ze at present obscure and waesplaned’ (Sears p99, i) (2 On Colvage, see Wear, Ch. + genetly, especialy Sects. It ani IV. Coleidge wee : weed ‘Thegroundvork. . .ofalltve philosophy ithe fullappechenson ofthe diterence between the cooterplision ef eeton,taely that intuition of things which aes when we poses ourcives at ‘one with the whale and tht which presen incl when ‘We think of ourielves as separated Being, and place mtr in Gnesi fo the mind, a object to subj, thing to thought, ea ie [Te Prieta Bay ps5 Goted Wis sf] CColetdge's tem has, of ours, a much wider aplication than the topic of natural beauty; but he eensely spied these (0 Se also Wosdeworth, Ta Pri Dk. VI nes Gato, and ‘intr ey ies to this were prinstiy historical sly, we shold have bat eae sptimateliy the development of tee concep tate ‘ya Paton, roman eee) that se bean he wala Ponty with nce” Wi we thing fete, however is hn 9Gd ‘ese ideas could bef hep to someone ying 0 make Sense of natural estate experience atthe presen time: Ts these bc qstngt an reference, allel feom'a fly wie Gel: say sie shove ot lent the existence of the tendencies with which we sal be chic concerned 10