Aesthetic landscapes of the golden mouse

Abstract

Aesthetics, as a transcending process, is based primarily on the economy of, and relationship between, natural and cultural systems. The German zoologist Ernst Haeckel (1869) defined ecology (the study of the house based on the Greek oikos) as a body of knowledge concerning the economy of nature (i.e., the total relationships of both the organic and the inorganic environments). Traditionally, aesthetic has been defined as a philosophical theory or idea of what is aesthetically valid at a given time and place. Economy is defined as (1) the efficient, sparing, or concise use of something and (2) the management of the resources of a community, country, especially with a view to its productivity (Webster's Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed., s.w. Aesthetics, Economy). In this chapter, we define aesthetics as an economy transcending all natural and artificial levels of organization, encompassing what human beings perceive as a resource and a nonresource in a given place and time (Barrett et al. 1999). What humans perceive as a resource and a nonresource in a given place and period of time is about an economy of survival-survival on political, commercial, social, and artistic grounds. © 2008 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC.