Research Catalog

Title

Thinking through landscape / Augustin Berque ; translated by Anne-Marie Feenberg-Dibon.

Author

Berque, Augustin

Publication

London ; New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group/Earthscan from Routledge, 2013.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Berque, Augustin.
• Feenberg-Dibon, Anne-Marie, 1943-

Description

vi, 81 pages : illustrations; 23 cm

Summary

"Our attitude to nature has changed over time. This book explores the historical, literary and philosophical origins of the changes in our attitude to nature that allowed environmental catastrophes to happen. It presents a philosophical reflection on human societies' attitude to the environment, informed by the history of the concept of landscape and the role played by the concept of nature in the human imagination and features a wealth of examples from around the world to help understand the contemporary environmental crisis in the context of both the built and natural environment. Thinking Through Landscape locates the start of this change in human labour and urban elites being cut off from nature. Nature became an imaginary construct masking our real interaction with the natural world. The book argues that this gave rise to a theoretical and literary appreciation of landscape at the expense of an effective practical engagement with nature. It draws on Heideggerian ontology and Veblen's sociology, providing a powerful distinction between two attitudes to landscape: the tacit knowledge of earlier peoples engaged in creating the landscape through their work - "landscaping thought"- and the explicit theoretical and aesthetic attitudes of modern city dwellers who love nature while belonging to a civilization that destroys the landscape - "landscape thinking". This book gives a critical survey of landscape thought and theory for students, researchers and anyone interested in human societies' relation to nature in the fields of landscape studies, environmental philosophy, cultural geography and environmental history"--

Uniform Title

Pensée paysagère. English

Alternative Title

Pensée paysagère.

Subject

• Landscapes
• Nature (Aesthetics)
• Landscape architecture > Philosophy
• BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Economic Development
• BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Sustainable Development
• BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Environmental Economics

Note

• "First edition of La Pensée paysagère published 2008 by Barnstorming"--Title page verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 70-73) and indexes.

Contents

Landscape and thought -- The landscape without landscape architects -- The waves of history -- The almond tree, barley and the olive tree -- Earthly leisure -- The countryside and the obscure female -- The case with the goat-foot -- The descent of the Tichka -- The witnesses to the birth of the landscape -- Lunch on the asqqif -- The quest for authenticity -- Xie Lingyun's principle -- The principle of Zong Bing -- Down with harmony! -- Modern de-cosmization -- The earth as a starting point -- The profound meaning of the landscape -- There is our authenticity -- Landscape and reality

ISBN

• 9780415821155 (hardback)
• 0415821150 (hardback)
• 9780415821162 (paperback)
• 0415821169 (paperback)

LCCN

^^2012045223

OCLC

• 816564521
• SCSB-11317420

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library