Phenomenological Landscapes

Another article has appeared in On Landscape (issue 285) with the title Phenomenological Landscapes. It starts with discussing how, starting with the Greek alphabet, there has been an increasing alienation from nature. This has only got worse with more and more technological progress. It is something that has been the subject of study by the Phenomenological Philosophers (notably Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty) who note how our individual conscious sensations, experiences and perceptions of nature have changed over time. More recently a concept of resonance has been introduced by Harmut Rosa in an analysis of how we as individuals interact with society and nature.   We will have more resonance with some things and people and groups than with others.   This can also apply to our experience of landscapes. The camera is somewhat paradoxical in this context – it is both a technological tool that separates us from our experience of landscape in looking through the viewfinder, but that very act can create resonance by allowing us to focus on individual aspects of beauty in the landscape. The full article can be found here.