| dc.description.abstract | The Ecosophy, Aisthesis, and Ethics of Woods
Abstract
Urbanization and consumerism have become the trend of the lifestyle of the contemporary and future society. If the urban lifestyle becomes exhausting, desiring for improvement, how can urban people live a better life by exposing themselves to the woods where they are able to refresh themselves? This important issue deserves our deep thinking. My thesis aims to deepen people’s understanding of the shortcomings and evil consequences of the urban lifestyle because it gradually leads people away from being in contact with the natural environment, the woods nearby in particular. By investigating the wisdom of Chinese philosophy and Western research results, this thesis focuses on the subject matter of woods and its significance to people’s life. I address this issue by following the academic research process of inquiry-exploration-resolution.
This thesis begins with “the way of life” implicated in the concept of “benevolent leshan.” It begins with investigating ancient people’s wisdom of life gained from being in nature as well as the entailing opportunity of being exposed to the wilderness as the prima facie idea to trigger the improvement of life. Next, this thesis explores the aisthesis of the fitness aesthetics and the aisthesis of woods in Lin Quan Gao Zhi to illustrate the impetus of “wilderness trigger.” Finally, this thesis complies with the cosmic view by exploring the ethics of the wilderness explorer, the ethics of outdoors recreation and the ethics of leave-no-trace. The well-being of human life, the rights of environment and other species thus may be fulfilled.
In other words, this thesis attempts to express the feelings and thoughts of my personal experiences in walking in the woods. It’s an interpretation of the hedonism of woods trekking and the love of ecosophy. I sincerely wish that by this valid research and the revelation of the induced value (the incentive), urban people might be induced to enter into the wilderness, the woods nearby. Thus, they can develop the positive energy of life and make the world a better world.
Keywords: Ecosophy, Fitness aesthetics, Aisthesis of woods, Wilderness trigger, Hedonism of woods trekking
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