Saito - Environmental Ethics

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Saito’s Argument in “Appreciating Nature on Its Own Terms”

Saito’s argument is based upon how we appreciate and view nature on its own terms. Her argument on appreciating nature is separated into many different sub-arguments throughout her paper against the landscape view and the associationist view. I will be discussing and explaining Saito’s view on appropriate aesthetic appreciation by providing examples from her work. Firstly, Saito introduces the differences between nature aesthetics and art aesthetics. When we view and appreciate art, we have a visual experience with the artwork because the viewers can distinguish what the artist is attempting to produce. Saito believes that this is inappropriate for “moral reason”. She cites another philosopher named John Dewey to fuel her argument on viewing art. Dewey states that the moral function of art is “to remove prejudice, do away with the scales that keep the eye from seeing, tear away the veils due to wont and custom, and perfect the power to perceive.” In other terms, when we appreciate art in its terms it helps us understand what the artist is trying to convey in his/her artwork to us. This technique of viewing art cannot be used with viewing nature unless one believes that there is a creator of nature. As her work progresses, she begins to examine the pictorial appreciation of nature. She starts by reviewing an earlier form of pictorial appreciation where viewers should focus their attention on natural objects by observing them as general forms; similar to how we would approach a landscape painting. Saito thinks that this is a false way to viewing and appreciating nature because viewers tend to focus on just the scenery and neglects what the ecosystem is made up of. Her method of appreciating nature is not just by looking, but also by appreciating different objects in nature that make up the ecosystem.

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