Philosophy ~ Aesthetics ~ Landscaping

Landscaping, like architecture, is both a physical science and an art. It entails a broad range of human actions to restructure and rearrange Nature into the environs in which we want our lives to occur. To the extent it involves the physical sciences of engineering and construction to achieve practical ends, it is not art. It is specifically the additional capacity to concretize man's broadest views of himself and his relationship to the universe that qualifies it to be an art form.

Art has its own science, aesthetics, which is one of the five fundamental branches of the science of philosophy. Hence the title of this blog: "Defining a Philosophy of Landscaping." Before beginning that journey though, a clear understanding of just what aesthetics comprises is imperative.

For those who have not spent much time in this corner of knowledge, philosophy is simply the science that seeks to define the fundamental nature, in principle, of all that exists—specifically of man and his relationship to and proper interaction with the rest of the universe. There are five major branches of philosophy, and they arise from the most basic yet inescapable questions man must answer in order to maximize the potential of his own nature:

• Metaphysics answers the question, "what is everything anyhow?" and deals with the fundamental nature of being (existence).
• Epistemology answers the question, "how do we know that?" and deals with the fundamental nature of knowledge and the systems by which we think and know.
• Ethics, granting one's particular metaphysics and epistemology, answers the question "what then should one do?" It identifies the purpose of life and the values required to fulfill it.
• Politics, recognizing differences in those values among men, answers the question, "how can we preserve autonomy over our own values while interacting with others to maximize their production?" and deals with the principles of proper relationships among humans living in a society.
• Aesthetics arises from the longing to realize one's ideals—to experience as real the vistas, spaces, actions, other human beings and relationships among all of those as they ought to be. Artists, authors, actors, musicians, and architects recreate the universe according to their own view of man and his relationship to everything else and we react to their creations in accordance with the relationship of their view to that of our own. The purpose of art is not to teach. The experience of it—of a universe in one's own image and likeness—is an end in and of itself.

The aesthetics of landscaping then is necessarily about the proper relationship between man and Nature. That relationship exists entirely within the context of the fact that man survives and thrives in direct proportion to the full use of and benefits derived from the natural universe, i.e. the exploitation of Nature is mandated by the nature of man himself, just as it is for all other animals.  The difference between them and us, however, is that the systems for exploiting Nature of the other animals are pre-programmed instincts over which they have no control. Their exploitation is itself a component of given Nature.

For mankind, to the contrary, the knowledge of how to maximize the benefits derivable from Nature must be identified and applied as actions to choices from alternatives. Inherent in that ability and necessity to choose, however, is the ability to err. Thus, the aesthetics of landscaping may not avoid the ethical implications thereof. While for all the other animals there is no such thing as being right or wrong, man must distinguish between the two and act accordingly. So let's.