For many of us, our deepest experiences of beauty occur not in our transactions with artworks but in our interactions with nature.
Nature is, in fact, an incredible repository of aesthetic qualities and experiences of all sorts.
As nature has come to be less viewed as simply a resource to be exploited by humans, it is more common to regard it as something to be appreciated in and for itself. We will meet twice a week in a seminar format that will emphasize discussion. At first we will investigate the foundations of aesthetics, looking at classical and contemporary positions. During these weeks students will be asked to write short weekly expositions of the readings. Students, either singly or in pairs, will be asked to lead these discussions.