The framing paradox

Ethics, Place and Environment 9 (3):249 – 267 (2006)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The idea that nature is importantly frame-less is an entrenched dogma in much of environmental aesthetics. Although there are powerful arguments that support this position, there are also powerful arguments supporting the view that observers often - or even inevitably - frame, bound, or otherwise confine natural objects in the course of aesthetic regard. Facing these opposing arguments off against each other produces the 'framing paradox': On the one hand, frames seem to be an indispensable condition for the aesthetic experience of anything whatsoever, and on the other hand the aesthetic appreciation of natural environments seems to require the dissolving or penetrating of boundaries of all sorts. To resolve this paradox, we must abandon an overly narrow conception of 'frame' that has generally been assumed throughout the debate and pay closer attention to what various framing devices (in both natural and artifactual settings) do to focus, rather than confine, aesthetic attention. Doing this enables us to make better sense of the way intelligence and imagination cooperate in carrying attention beyond perceptual phenomena. From the perspective that results, rival claims about the framability of nature can be seen as variable markers on an endless scale of aesthetic selectivity.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 100,516

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Defending Aesthetic Protectionism.Ned Hettinger - 2016 - In David Schmidtz (ed.), Philosophy: Environmental Ethics. Macmillan. pp. 287-308.
VII The Aesthetics of Nature.Malcom Budd - 2000 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 100 (2):137-158.
VII—The Aesthetics of Nature.Malcom Budd - 2000 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 100 (2):137-157.
On the Aesthetic Appreciation of Damaged Environments.María José Alcaraz León - 2022 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 80 (4):420-431.
Natural Beauty: A Theory of Aesthetics Beyond the Arts.Ronald Moore (ed.) - 2007 - Peterborough, CA: Broadview Press.
Science, Nature, and Moore's Syncretic Aesthetic.Glenn Parsons - 2009 - Ethics, Place and Environment 12 (3):351-356.
Aesthetic Appreciation of Silence.Erik Anderson - 2020 - Contemporary Aesthetics 18.
Nature aesthetics.James M. Dow - 2022 - Philosophy Compass 17 (5):e12829.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
61 (#346,587)

6 months
9 (#464,038)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Categories of Art.Kendall L. Walton - 1970 - Philosophical Review 79 (3):334-367.
The Aesthetics of Environment.Arnold Berleant - 1995 - Temple University Press.
Appreciation and the natural environment.Allen Carlson - 1979 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 37 (3):267-275.

View all 18 references / Add more references