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In this book Miller challenges contemporary aesthetic theory to include gardens in an expanded definition of art. She provides a radical critique of three central tenets within current intellectual debate: first, the art historical notion that art should only be studied within the context of a single culture and period; second, the philosophical belief that art should be conceived as a discrete object unrelated to our survival as persons, as cultural communities, as a species; and third, the notion that all signifying systems are like language.
"This is an excellent piece of work, well-organized, and convincingly argued. Miller is extremely well informed both about gardens and about aesthetics (an unusual combination). The book integrates fascinating examples into a thorough, closely reasoned discussion of the theoretical issues that gardens raise." — Arnold Berleant, Long Island University
"Miller's is an extremely broad and competent treatment of gardens, East and West. Her grasp of Japanese culture is rare for any Western treatment, philosophical or otherwise, of gardens." — Edmund Leites, Queens College of the City University of New York
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Part I: What Is a Garden?
1. Definitions, Examples, and Paradigms
2. The General Unifying Principles Underlying the Construction and Appreciation of Gardens
3. Additional Aspects of Spatiality
Part II: The Garden as a Work of Art
4. Gardens and Current Theories of Art
5. Preference for Distance and Disinterest
6. Environmental Aesthetics and the Effects of Art
7. The Signifying Garden: Gardens as Art
Part III: The Garden as Great Art
8. Great Art: Significant Human Content: Theoretical Issues
9. Ideas in Art and Language
10. The Signifying Garden: Gardens and Language
11. Gardens as Great Art: The Presentation of Artistic Ideas
12. Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index to Gardens
Name Index
Subject Index