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Journals / Kaygı. Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Felsefe Dergisi / 2026 / Cilt: 24 Sayı: 1

Is Climate Change Ugly? Considering Climate Change as an Aesthetic Problem

İklim Değişikliği Çirkin midir? İklim Değişikliğini Estetik Bir Problem Olarak Düşünmek

Melih Can Kızmaz(İSTANBUL TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0003-1518-5880
İbrahim Halil Polat(SAKARYA ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0001-7034-3429
Pages
335–358
Publication Date
2025-03-28
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

In conclusion, at the end, this paper aims to demonstrate that climate change should not be perceived solely as a political and ecological problem.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:Climate change inherently involves moral considerations, including the unequal distribution of responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, the growing problem of desertification, the alarming loss of biodiversity, and other related issues.
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Key Findings & Data:In conclusion, at the end, this paper aims to demonstrate that climate change should not be perceived solely as a political and ecological problem.
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Conclusion & Impact:Aesthetic theory, through a hybrid cognitivist and moralist account, offers crucial insights into the experience of climate change, while the moralist account offers the ethical and moral involvement, the cognitivist approach offers the scientific foundation for nature.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Estetik · İklim Değişikliği · Negatif Estetik

Abstract

Climate change inherently involves moral considerations, including the unequal distribution of responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, the growing problem of desertification, the alarming loss of biodiversity, and other related issues. The central discussion revolves around three distinct aesthetic approaches. First, the paper critically evaluates formalist and subjectivist accounts, arguing that these perspectives are insufficient for comprehending the ethical and moral dimensions of climate change. Because, while formalist aesthetics develops a disinterested and abstract view on nature, the subjectivist approach is problematic due to the impossibility of reconciliation on the aesthetic judgments of nature. However, second, by integrating both cognitivist and moralist accounts, the paper offers a comprehensive perspective on climate change-driven aesthetic loss, incorporating both scientific objectivity and the moral significance of the issue. Illustrating this argument, in the paper, it examines specific examples of climate-related aesthetic loss, including Arctic ice melt, wildfires, and the aesthetic transformation of urban environments, framing these losses within the context of negative aesthetics. In conclusion, at the end, this paper aims to demonstrate that climate change should not be perceived solely as a political and ecological problem. Aesthetic theory, through a hybrid cognitivist and moralist account, offers crucial insights into the experience of climate change, while the moralist account offers the ethical and moral involvement, the cognitivist approach offers the scientific foundation for nature.

Özet

İklim değişikliği, sera gazı emisyonlarının sorumluluğunun eşitsiz dağılımı, artan çölleşme sorunu, biyolojik çeşitliliğin endişe verici kaybı ve diğer ilgili konular da dahil olmak üzere doğası gereği ahlaki değerlendirmeleri içerir. Metnin ana tartışması üç ayrı estetik yaklaşım çerçevesinde şekillenmiştir. İlk olarak, bu metin biçimci ve öznelci yaklaşımları, iklim değişikliğinin etik ve ahlaki boyutunu kavramada yetersiz olduklarını ileri sürerek eleştirel bir şekilde ele almıştır. Biçimci estetik, doğaya ilgisiz ve soyut bir bakış açısı ortaya koyarken, öznelci yaklaşım ise doğanın estetik yargıları üzerinde uzlaşının mümkün olmaması nedeniyle sorunludur. Buna karşın, ikinci olarak, bilişsel ve ahlaki yaklaşımlar bir arada ele alınarak hem bilimsel nesnellik hem de iklim değişikliğinin ahlaki önemi bir arada değerlendirilmekte ve böylece iklim değişikliği temelli estetik kayıplara ilişkin kapsamlı bir bakış açısı önerilmektedir. Bu argümanı açıklamak için metin, kutuplardaki buzulların erimesi, orman yangınları ve kentsel çevrelerin estetik dönüşümü gibi iklimle ilgili estetik kayıp örneklerini ele almakta ve bu örnekleri negatif estetik bağlamında değerlendirmektedir. Sonuç olarak, bu metin, iklim değişikliğinin yalnızca siyasi ve ekolojik bir mesele olarak algılanmaması gerektiğini göstermeyi amaçlamaktadır. Estetik teori, hibrit bir bilişsel ve ahlaki yaklaşım aracılığıyla iklim değişikliğine dair önemli görüşler sunmaktadır; ahlakçı yaklaşım etik ve ahlaki katılımı öne çıkarırken, bilişsel yaklaşım doğa için bilimsel bir temel ileri sürmektedir.

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Cite This Article

Kızmaz, M. C., Polat, İ. H. (2025). Is Climate Change Ugly? Considering Climate Change as an Aesthetic Problem. Kaygı. Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Felsefe Dergisi, Cilt: 24 Sayı: 1, 335–358. https://doi.org/10.20981/kaygi.1667264

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