The Aesthetics of Animals

This chapter summarizes the four fundamental lines of research in contemporary philosophical animal aesthetics. The first concerns the requirements for appropriate appreciation and the debate between the cognitive approach of Allen Carlson and Glenn Parsons and the pluralistic perspective of Emily Brady. The second explores what is involved in appreciating subjects who can perceive and interact with us, emphasizing the unique sensory system and Umwelt of every species. The diversity of animal species corresponds to a diversity of subjective ways of experiencing themselves, us, and the shared environment, and by exploring it we pursue a deeper comprehension of the world. This leads to the question posed by philosophers like Holmes Rolston III, Stephen Davies, and Wolfgang Welsch, as well as scientists like Charles Darwin and Richard O. Prum, about whether animals engage in aesthetic experiences. The third focuses on the appreciation of animals within rewilding, which the chapter exemplifies by commenting on a project by the Foundation Rewilding Europe. Finally, this chapter explores the relationship between animal ethics and the aesthetic appreciation of animals, analyzing controversial cases and drawing on the views of Yuriko Saito and Samantha Vice, who argue that inappropriate aesthetic appreciation is closely linked to unethical treatment.