How Important Is The Understanding (Or Knowledge) To The Aesthetic Appreciation Of Nature? Argumentative Essay

Nature is one of the most outstanding, and at the same time mysterious realities in our life. It can be watched for eternity and still will not show all its secrets and beauty. It is no wonder that so many scientists and philosophers have thought about appreciating nature and its understanding. This paper is dedicated to an attempt to see how understanding is important for the aesthetic appreciation of nature.
According to Carlson, for appropriate appreciation of the nature, it is necessary to possess certain knowledge in the natural history (267). In particular, he specifies that without such a knowledge a person will not know what to look for and what to appreciate indeed. In this case, a person can miss some important things and fail to appreciate, as it should be done. I agree with this statement, as I think that for every person who works on him/herself, it is necessary to develop and grow as a personality. Without appropriate knowledge and understanding, he/she will get lost and cannot understand a lot of events happening around. In the case of nature appreciation, it happens exactly so.
However, Carroll states that Carlson’s argument is too dependent on person’s emotions aroused by nature (245). It means that people can be moved by nature on the emotional level, without much understanding of aesthetics or history of the nature. I think that it is also true, but it is necessary to understand that although emotions can be important in this situations, without knowledge in the given subject area, it is mostly not possible to fully and deeply appreciate nature and cover all its aesthetics.

Works Cited

Carlson, Allen. "Appreciation and the natural environment." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 37.3 (1979): 267-275.
Carroll, N. “On being moved by nature: between religion and natural history.” Landscape, Natural Beauty and the Arts. Eds. S. Kemal and I. Gaskell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 244–66.