Ecological education¹ through aesthetic engagement

Abstract

Drawing from contemporary Western theories of environmental esthetics and ancient Chinese esthetics of nature, the author proposes ecological education through esthetic engagement. Esthetic engagement removes the opposition between the esthetic subject and object and requires whole-body engagement with the natural environment. It provides an integrated environmental experience and a sense of “home,” emphasizing “body” and “lived experience.” This article also highlights two outcomes of ecological education through esthetic engagement in schools: students acquire rich and full esthetic experiences through whole-body involvement in the natural environment and students’ art-making promotes conversation between their esthetic experiences, art creation, and ecological ethics.

Keywords:

• body
• ecological education
• esthetic engagement lived experience
• nature

Notes

Notes

1. I think there are some differences between environment and ecology. Environment is environ (v.) + ment., meaning “state of being environed.” “Environ” is from en “in” + viron “a circle/circuit,” meaning surround, encircle/encompass. Ecology is the branch of science dealing with the relationship of living things to their environment, and eco is from the Greek oikos, which means house, dwelling place, habitation. Thus, I think “ecological education” is better than “environmental education,” as the former emphasizes my point that the goal of education is to promote the establishment of the sense of a natural home in humans.

2. The essence of binary concept of human’s relationship with nature is human-centrism based on epistemological and rationalistic standpoints, which hold humans to be the dominators of nature, leading to the destruction of nature and the opposition, or separation, of nature and humans. To break the binary paradigm and construct intimate relationships between humans and nature, we should do away with epistemological and rationalistic standpoints in favor of ontological and phenomenological standpoints. This proposal of ecological education through esthetic engagement is an exploration of one kind of environmental education based on ontological and phenomenological standpoints.

Additional information

Funding

The National Social Science Fund of China. The number of funding is 16ZDA110.