In this interdisciplinary work, philosophers from different specialisms connect with the notion of the wild today and interrogate how it is mediated through the culture of the Anthropocene. They make use of empirical material like specific artworks, films and other cultural works related to the term ‘wild’ to consider the aesthetic experience of nature, focusing on the untamed, the boundless, the unwieldy, or the unpredictable; in other words, aspects of nature that are mediated by culture.This book maps out the wide range of ways in which we experience the wildness of nature aesthetically, relating both to immediate experience as well as to experience mediated through cultural expression. A variety of subjects are relevant in this context, including aesthetics, art history, theology, human geography, film studies, and architecture. A theme that is pursued throughout the book is the wild in connection with ecology and its experience of nature as both a constructive and destructive force.Wild. The Aesthetics of the Dangerous and Endangered is a contribution to the field of the aesthetics of nature. The book discusses nature as the untamed, the boundless, the unwieldy, or the unpredictable – as something outside the human sphere. Thus, nature is seen as dangerous and potentially overwhelming, as well as endangered, as it is in the Anthropocene. The book examines how nature as wild is reflected in a manifold of concrete aesthetic experiences and aesthetic practices. Some of these are art forms like painting, sculpture, music, architecture, literature and poetry. Others are landscape preservation, ecological restoration, projects of re-wilding and the appreciation of the wild as it emerges in cities and their landscape and social life. The book discusses the wild in relation to land and geographies, animals, the relationship between the wild and human nature, the human wish to be reconciled with the wild as well as the wild as an everlasting part of the human condition. Additionally, the book discusses what makes the aesthetic approach to nature as wild unique, and how this approach contributes to our experience and understanding of nature. The authors are scholars coming from the fields of philosophy, architecture, history of art, literary studies, musicology, religious studies, human geography and environmental history.

Wild: Aesthetics of the Dangerous and Endangered PDF

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