Shaftesbury, God, and Environmental Aesthetics

This study aims to initiate a dialogue between environmental aesthetics and Shaftesbury's theory of natural beauty. Rather than de-theologising Shaftesbury's theory, it shows how the theory is integral to his anti-voluntarism. The study considers the theory's origins in the Cambridge Platonism of Benjamin Whichcote and Ralph Cudworth, before clarifying its insistence on three constituent elements: (1) the intrinsic value of virtue and affections, (2) the beauty of the whole, and (3) disinterestedness. When combined, these three elements form Shaftesbury's theory of natural beauty. In an attempt to revive the theological roots of environmental aesthetics, this study concludes by contesting two models (engagement theory and scientific cognitivism) to show how they obstruct knowledge of the virtue of disinterestedness.