(Photo: Author’s own)
By Samantha J. Capon, Robyn Bartel, Sandy Boucher, Felicity Joseph, and Anthony Lynch.
Ecological science plays a significant role in contemporary society – shaping the way we see, understand and engage with nature and informing a wide range of other academic disciplines. In philosophy, the fields of ‘environmental aesthetics’ (that is, the study of people’s sensory experiences of the environment), and ‘aesthetics of science’ (the study of how human sensory experiences of the world influence science) both draw on, and have implications for, ecological science.
In this paper, we synthesise recent literature in each of these growing fields to identify key aesthetic aspects of ecological science and the broader consequences of these. We explore how ecologists’ aesthetic experiences of nature influence the practice of ecological science and the production of ecological knowledge, including its role in shaping how society more broadly perceives nature. We also consider the development and role of ecological ‘taste’ amongst ecologists. Ecological taste is the capacity to make authoritative judgements regarding nature’s aesthetic value. Finally, we explore how these aesthetic influences shape the ways in which ecological science is interpreted and applied morally, culturally and politically.
We suggest that increased awareness and attention to these aesthetic influences on ecological science by both ecologists and their audiences may benefit conservation efforts by promoting more imaginative, diverse and equitable science to policy outcomes.
Relational Thinking 