Seeing and Being Seen: Aesthetics and Environmental Philosophy (By Dr. Joshua Coleman, Philosophy & World Religions Instructor)
"...nature brings us, as so often happens throughout the Old and New Testaments, unique experiences of God’s presence and communication."
A few years ago, I delivered a paper in Dallas at the Southwest Conference of the American Academy of Religion entitled, “The Noetics of Poverty in the Paintings of Vincent van Gogh.” The paper touched on issues of aesthetics in Van Gogh’s work, that conceptions of beauty radically differed between those rich and poor he was asked to paint. At the close of the conference I was contacted by a publisher, Rowman and Littlefield, and asked if I wanted to create an edited volume surrounding some of the issues of that paper.
A few years ago, I delivered a paper in Dallas at the Southwest Conference of the American Academy of Religion entitled, “The Noetics of Poverty in the Paintings of Vincent van Gogh.” The paper touched on issues of aesthetics in Van Gogh’s work, that conceptions of beauty radically differed between those rich and poor he was asked to paint. At the close of the conference I was contacted by a publisher, Rowman and Littlefield, and asked if I wanted to create an edited volume surrounding some of the issues of that paper.
I asked a few friends and former colleagues to collaborate, with two primary overarching themes: Our cultural aesthetics of beauty directly impacts what we perceive as either beautiful or of value in the natural world, and that the dominant approach to nature of the environmental movement has been primarily a materialist one (that nature is merely material for use), even though it is precisely materialist presuppositions which have, in my view, helped foster widespread degradation of the natural world.
This work looks at myriad issues by six contemporary thinkers on the subject, myself as editor, author of two articles and the introduction. In summation, it is an attempt to explore our presuppositions toward nature in hopes of affecting our desires, that our collective desire has to change and not merely that we do a less destructive job of objectifying nature. So many movements in Christian history, especially monastic ones, witness to the cultivation and offering of nature as much more than for use, rather as a conduit of holiness.
This work looks at myriad issues by six contemporary thinkers on the subject, myself as editor, author of two articles and the introduction. In summation, it is an attempt to explore our presuppositions toward nature in hopes of affecting our desires, that our collective desire has to change and not merely that we do a less destructive job of objectifying nature. So many movements in Christian history, especially monastic ones, witness to the cultivation and offering of nature as much more than for use, rather as a conduit of holiness.
It was a humbling experience to be on this work with people I regard so highly. As is typically the case, I received infinitely more than I gave.
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