Environmental aesthetics

8. Conclusion

What the developments in the aesthetics of human environments and of everyday life demonstrate is that, although the noncognitive and the cognitive approaches in environmental aesthetics have different emphases in addressing basic questions about the aesthetic experience of the world at large, they are not necessarily in conflict with one another. There is no theoretical conflict between them since each apparently proposes only necessary, not sufficient, conditions for appropriate aesthetic appreciation of natural and human environments. Nonetheless, there is perhaps some practical tension generated by the two kinds of approaches, owing to the appreciative difficulty of being totally and emotionally engaged with objects of appreciation and yet at the same time taking into account knowledge relevant to their appreciation. However, this kind of bringing together and balancing of feeling and knowing is at the heart of any aesthetic experience and is, moreover, that which is expected in serious, appropriate aesthetic appreciation of works of art. That aesthetic appreciation of natural and human environments and of the objects, events and activities of everyday life requires the same kind of achievement demonstrates that the different elements of the world at large are as aesthetically rich as are the very best works of art.