Naturalism Improves Perception

Nature study also heightens our perceptive abilities: we see, hear and smell more, and more keenly, because of them. In the cities, our senses tend to atrophy. The relentless commercial badgering of signs, and the general dullness and ugliness of city landscapes, push the urban walker into the safe cocoon of his mind and further out of his senses. Simply spending time out in pastoral or wild landscapes counteracts this tendency. Spend a day in the woods and you will begin to hear a bit more and enjoy what you are hearing: water rushing in the brook, the scolds and screams of a jay. But the naturalist takes this further, using her senses to identify what she is seeing and hearing and smelling, and developing their acuteness in the process. A casual walker may see a bush with green leaves, but the botanist will see one that is four feet tall, with simple alternating lance-shaped leaves with doublyserrated edges, hanging on flattened leafstalks with reddish leaf-buds at their base. Of course, some people have keener eyesight than others, but the amazing thing is that most people can significantly improve their senses by using them. Make a habit of close looking, and you will see more.

Notes:

Being attentive to nature heightens our senses because of the enjoyment we get from listening, seeing, smelling, and feeling it.

Folksonomies: nature virtue perception

Keywords:
relentless commercial badgering (0.996705 (negative:-0.693305)), senses (0.978251 (positive:0.172136)), lance-shaped leaves (0.851533 (negative:-0.214693)), Nature study (0.834573 (positive:0.881083)), keener eyesight (0.828669 (negative:-0.327181)), water rushing (0.828526 (negative:-0.254673)), urban walker (0.822668 (positive:0.634969)), nature heightens (0.805862 (positive:0.765026)), reddish leaf-buds (0.804116 (negative:-0.277399)), general dullness (0.803530 (negative:-0.734410)), amazing thing (0.793685 (positive:0.445192)), casual walker (0.780888 (negative:-0.656585)), green leaves (0.780824 (negative:-0.656585)), landscapes counteracts (0.778757 (negative:-0.332093)), people (0.523124 (positive:0.118011)), Naturalism (0.513737 (positive:0.765026)), screams (0.505242 (negative:-0.707967)), cocoon (0.502484 (neutral:0.000000)), botanist (0.500581 (neutral:0.000000)), tendency (0.493992 (negative:-0.332093)), naturalist (0.493966 (neutral:0.000000)), Perception (0.491006 (positive:0.765026)), edges (0.490005 (negative:-0.207664)), enjoyment (0.489848 (positive:0.765026)), abilities (0.488376 (neutral:0.000000)), habit (0.483738 (negative:-0.616823)), bit (0.479838 (positive:0.695032)), cities (0.478217 (neutral:0.000000)), time (0.475248 (neutral:0.000000)), brook (0.475164 (neutral:0.000000))

Concepts:
Sense (0.951345): dbpedia | freebase
Brain (0.842251): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Perception (0.811918): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Hearing (0.760896): dbpedia | freebase
Ear (0.554869): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Olfaction (0.545561): dbpedia | freebase

 The Naturalist’s Virtues
Periodicals>Journal Article:  Cafaro, Philip , The Naturalist’s Virtues, Philosophy in the Contemporary World, Volume 8 Number 2 Fall-Winter 2001, Department of Philosophy, Colorado State Univ, Retrieved on 2011-06-10
Folksonomies: virtue naturalism naturalist


Schemas

25 MAR 2013

 Science Reveals the World Beyond Our Senses

Microscopes, X-Rays, Telescopes, and other instruments reveal the hidden world we cannot see with our five senses. Science increases what we can know beyond our physical limitations.
Folksonomies: cognition senses prosthesis
Folksonomies: cognition senses prosthesis
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