Fittingness and Other-Regarding Attitudes in Environmental Aesthetics

This chapter explores three kinds of experiences which decentre the human subject and reflect other-regarding attitudes towards the environment: the sympathetic attention which is central to aesthetic experience, the receptivity of wonder, and the humbling effect of the natural sublime. These experiences assist in giving content to the concept of ‘fittingness’ as it relates to environmental thinking and practice. ‘Fittingness’ is captured by meaningful human–nature relations where mutual flourishing is a primary aim. Sympathetic attention is often theorised as central to aesthetic experience, and it involves directing attention to the qualities and meaningful features of things other than oneself. Such attention harmonises with the openness of wonder, a quasi-aesthetic experience which is curious and deeply receptive. Wondrous attention is directed outwards at the fascinating qualities of natural phenomena. By contrast, in the natural sublime, the aesthetic subject is not so much drawn into contemplative appreciation but rather shocked, overwhelmed, and in awe of powerful forces. The humbling effect of the sublime can be described as a ‘limit experience’. While wonder introduces a sense of the unknown, the sublime amplifies this at a metaphysical level, forcing the subject to rethink their place in, and relationship to, the more-than-human world.