Worked examples or Exercises; 10 Halftones, black and white; 3 Line drawings, black and white
Publishing Details
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Imprint
Cambridge University Press
Publication Date
24 October 2019
Publication Country
United Kingdom
Description
The practice of paleontology has an aesthetic as well as an epistemic dimension. Paleontology has distinctively aesthetic aims, such as cultivating sense of place and developing a better aesthetic appreciation of fossils. Scientific cognitivists in environmental aesthetics argue that scientific knowledge deepens and enhances our appreciation of nature. Drawing on that tradition, this Element argues that knowledge of something's history makes a difference to how we engage with it aesthetically. This means that investigation of the deep past can contribute to aesthetic aims. Aesthetic engagement with fossils and landscapes is also crucial to explaining paleontology's epistemic successes.
