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Aesthetic Appreciation in Nature and Literature

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Ecocritical Perspectives on Children's Texts and Cultures

Part of the book series: Critical Approaches to Children's Literature ((CRACL))

Abstract

The author’s major aim in this chapter is to argue that aesthetic experiences of nature are crucial for the formation of ecocitizens. By means of philosophical analysis he attends to some differences between experiences in nature as opposed to experience of nature as mediated by literature, and shows how they both contribute to the formation of children into responsible ecocitizens. He argues that aesthetic experience of nature must be cognitive since knowledge of nature must play a role for how we experience nature, and emphasizes the multisensory aspect of nature experiences. Experiences in nature are then compared to experiences in literature and Karlsen argues for the importance of knowledge in both instances.

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Correspondence to Gunnar Karlsen .

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Karlsen, G. (2018). Aesthetic Appreciation in Nature and Literature. In: Goga, N., Guanio-Uluru, L., Hallås, B., Nyrnes, A. (eds) Ecocritical Perspectives on Children's Texts and Cultures. Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90497-9_3

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