Landscape architecture, architecture and visual art are all mediations between nature and culture. This course is designed to help students form their own world view regarding our relationship with the ?natural? world around us in an age of ecological crisis. To achieve this, the course provides a stimulating historical and contemporary survey of ideas of nature. We explore ways ?nature? has been understood mythically, theologically, ideologically, philosophically, scientifically, and artistically throughout the ages, with an emphasis on contemporary culture. We survey the way in which the polarity of culture and nature has been historically constructed and more recently, deconstructed. The pedagogical philosophy of this course is that an appreciation of the broad pattern of history and the ideas that have shaped it are foundational to living a critical and ethical life and central to the process of making contemporary art, architecture and landscape architecture.
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