Situatedness in Landscape Sustainability.
A Hermeneutical Approach
Keywords:
Situatedness, Hermeneutics, Sustainability, Landscape AestheticsAbstract
In this paper, I claim that some hermeneutical concepts developed by Hans-Georg Gadamer might help us elaborate a philosophical understanding of a landscape’s sustainability. In particular, the notion of “situatedness” as the intrinsic finitude of human beings located in a spatial-temporal context is conceived as a productive element by Gadamer. After having recalled the meaning of this notion in Gadamer’s thought, I will show how it can provide a valuable contribution, firstly, to the critique of an idea of sustainability as a mere “musealization” of exceptional places, whose counterpart is the exploitation of places considered aesthetically insignificant. Secondly, I will highlight the potentialities of situatedness for the formulation of an approach that takes into account, on the one hand, the relationality that characterizes the relationship between humans and landscape in a way that contrasts a dualistic conception, and, on the other hand, the radical historicity of every specific landscape as well as our approach to landscape that evolves throughout history. Against mere appropriation and, on the opposite, contemplation, the concept of situatedness may enable us to highlight an immersive and participatory approach to landscapes, recalling the responsibility towards the places that we inhabit and visit.
References
Benson, John F. & Maggie Roe (eds.) (2008), Landscape and Sustainability, 2. ed., Taylor & Francis: London.
Berleant, Arnold (1991), Art and Engagement, Temple University Press: Philadelphia.
Berleant, Arnold (1993), The Aesthetics of Art and Nature, [in:] S. Kemal & I. Gaskell (eds.), Landscape, Natural Beauty and the Arts, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 228–243.
Berleant, Arnold (1997), Living in the Landscape. Toward an Aesthetics of Environment, University Press of Kansas: Lawrence.
Brady, Emily (2003), Aesthetics of the Natural Environment, University of Alabama Press: Tuscaloosa, pp. 86–119.
Carlson, Allen (1981), ‘Nature, Aesthetic Judgment, and Objectivity’, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 40 (1), pp. 15–27.
Carlson, Allen (1995), ‘Nature, Aesthetic Appreciation, and Knowledge’, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 53 (4), pp. 393–400.
Carlson, Allen (2009), Nature and Landscape. An Introduction to Environmental Aesthetics, Columbia University Press: New York.
D’Angelo, Paolo (2014), Filosofia del paesaggio, Quodlibet: Macerata.
Doherty, Gareth & Charles Waldheim (eds.) (2016), Is Landscape...? Essays on the Identity of Landscape, Routledge: London.
Friberg, Carsten (2021), ‘Everyday Aesthetics and Philosophical Hermeneutics’, ESPES, Slovak Journal of Aesthetics, 10 (2), pp. 103–117.
Furia, Paolo (2019), ‘Space, Place and the Subject. Exploring Three Approaches’, Environment, Space, Place, 11 (2), pp. 70–96.
Gadamer, Hans-Georg (2013), Truth and Method, trans. revised by J. Weinsheimer & D. G. Marshall, Bloomsbury: London.
George, Theodore & Gert-Jan Van der Heiden (eds.) (2021), The Gadamerian Mind, Routledge: London.
Giombini, Lisa & Marta Benenti (2021), ‘Cultural Tourism: Authenticity, Engagement and the Everyday’, Popular Inquiry, 9 (2), pp. 5–21.
Haapala, Arto (2005), ‘On the Aesthetics of the Everyday: Familiarity, Strangeness, and the Meaning of Place’, [in:] A. Light & J. M. Smith (eds.), The Aesthetics of Everyday Life, Columbia University Press: New York, pp. 39–55.
Heidegger, Martin (2010), Being and Time, trans. J. Stambaugh, revised and with a foreword by D. J. Schmidt, SUNY Press: New York.
Hepburn, Ronald W. (1966 [1984]), ‘Contemporary Aesthetics and the Neglect of Natural Beauty’, [in:] idem, Wonder and other essays. Eight Studies in Aesthetics and Neighbouring Fields, Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, pp. 9–35.
Howard, Peter, Ian Thompson, Emma Waterton & Mick Atha (eds.) (2019), Routledge Companion to Landscape Studies, second edition, Routledge: London.
Hünefeldt, Thomas & Annika Schlitte (eds.) (2018), ‘Situatedness and Place: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Spatio-Temporal Contingency of Human Life,’ Springer: Cham.
Janz, Bruce B. (ed.) (2018), Place, Space and Hermeneutics, Springer: Cham.
Krieg, Parker & Reetta Tovainen (eds.) (2021), Situating Sustainability: A Handbook of Contexts and Concepts, Helsinki University Press: Helsinki.
Lehtinen, Sanna (2020), ‘An Intergenerational Approach to Urban Futures: Introducing the Concept of Aesthetic Sustainability’, [in:] A. Haapala, B. Frydryczak & M. Salwa (eds.), Moving from Landscapes to Cityscapes and Back: Theoretical and Applied Approaches to Human Environments, Przypis: Lodz, pp. 111–119.
Lehtinen, Sanna (2021), ‘Aesthetic Sustainability’, [in:] R. Toivanen & P. Krieg (eds.), Situating Sustainability: A Handbook of Contexts and Concepts, Helsinki University Press: Helsinki, pp. 255–268.
Malpas, Jeff (2015), ‘Place and Situation’, [in:] J. Malpas & H-H. Gander (eds.), Routledge Companion to Hermeneutics, Routledge: London, pp. 356–358.
Nassauer, Joan I. (1997), ‘Cultural Sustainability: Aligning Aesthetics and Ecology’, [in:] Joan I. Nassauer (ed.), Placing Nature: Culture and Landscape Ecology, Island Press: Washington.
Nielsen, Cynthia R. (2022), Gadamer’s Hermeneutical Aesthetics. Art as a Performative, Dynamic, Communal Event, Routledge: New York, London.
Ritter, Joachim (1963 [1974]), ‘Landschaft. Zur Funktion des Ästhetischen in der modernen Gesellschaft’, [in:], idem, Subjektivität. Sechs Aufsätze, Suhrkamp: Frankfurt a. M., pp. 141–190.
Romagnoli, Elena (2022), ‘Between Repetition and Occasion. A Gadamerian Contribution to Everyday Aesthetics’, Scenari, 17 (2), pp. 47–64.
Romagnoli, Elena (2023), Oltre l’opera d’arte. L’estetica performativa di Gadamer tra idealismo e pragmatismo, ETS: Pisa.
Saito, Yuriko (2007), Everyday Aesthetics, Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Saito, Yuriko (2022), Aesthetics of Care. Practice in Everyday Life, Bloomsbury: London & New York.
Siani, Alberto L. (2022), ‘Landscape Aesthetics’, International Lexicon of Aesthetics, Spring [online], https://lexicon.mimesisjournals.com/archive/2022/spring/LandscapeAesthetics.pdf.
Siani, Alberto L. (2023), ‘Between Professional Objectivity and Simmel’s Moods: A Pragmatist-Aesthetic Proposal for Landscape Character’, Landscape Research, 48 (4), pp. 583–593.
Simmel, Georg (1957 [1913]), ‘Philosophie der Landschaft’, [in:] M. Landmann (eds.) Brücke und Tür, Essays des Philosophen zur Geschichte, Religion, Kunst und Gesellschaft, Köhler: Stuttgart, pp. 141–152.
Somhegyi, Zoltán (2023), ‘From Ruins to the Ruins of Ruins. The Challenging Afterlife of Architectural Dereliction’, [in:] J. O. Habeck & F. Schmitz (eds.), Ruinen und vergessene Orte. Materialität im Verfall – Nachnutzungen – Umdeutungen, Transcript: Bielefeld, pp. 45–55.
Wilder, Ken (2020), Beholding. Situated art and aesthetics of reception, Bloomsbury: London & New York.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 The Polish Journal of Aesthetics
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
