2 - Everyday Aesthetics of Taking a Walk: With Zhuangzi

Summary

Abstract

Everyday aesthetics includes not only environments but also the objects and events within such environments. This chapter is on the aesthetics of a walk in one's neighborhood, such a walk including both natural and non-natural environments with no clear boundaries between the two. Distinctive of the everyday walk are micro-aesthetic properties such as the (mildly) interesting, and the (mildly) funny. Also distinctive is the relatively non-verbal nature of much aesthetic appreciation. Contrary to some critics of everyday aesthetics (for example Downing), everyday aesthetics does not require discourse or argument to be legitimate as a domain of aesthetics. I draw first from Gumbrecht's Heideggerian concept of “presence” and then, at greater length, from Zhuangzi's idea of spontaneity to develop this idea of non-verbal or minimally verbal aesthetic experience of the everyday. I conclude that the Taoist concept of oneness can be experienced in a non-religious way by contemporary atheists.

Keywords: everyday aesthetics, walking, environment, Zhuangzi, Heidegger

1 A Walk in the Neighborhood

When I walk in my neighborhood, I experience a constant flow of aesthetic delight, consisting of distinct aesthetic experiences of things, places, happenings, and juxtapositions. Most of these are visual; some are aural. Many involve smell, and some taste and touch. I will argue that taking a daily walk and appreciating what one experiences is part of the aesthetics of everyday life. The aesthetics of everyday life is a relatively new sub-discipline arising out of discussions of environmental aesthetics in the 1990s. This chapter is part of a larger project of thinking about the foundations of the aesthetics of everyday life. The specific sub-project here is what I call micro-aesthetics. Micro-aesthetics deals with experiences that are generally low-level in intensity but valued nonetheless. Of course, the aesthetics of walking entails more than micro-aesthetics; but the micro-aesthetic experience forms an integral part of it.

We should also note that there is no clear distinction between the aesthetics of art, design, nature, and everyday life in taking a walk. Many of the things encountered on a walk are officially (outside of the context of the walk) categorized as aesthetics of art (both fine and popular): many of design, many of nature, and many of the everyday. Even so, whatever among these things is experienced from the perspective of the daily walk is a matter of everyday aesthetics.