Estetyka, etyka i logika ogrodu. Filozofia Rosaria Assunta

Abstract

The essay offers a philosophical interpretation of the concept of the garden according

to the contemporary Italian aesthetician Rosario Assunto (1915–1994). Assunto

systematically developed a philosophical theory focused on the question of the

identity of the garden. He was interested in the “idea of the Garden” which, in his

opinion, determined historical gardens both at the ontological and epistemological

level. He defined the garden in terms of a happy connection of man and nature, based

on the aesthetic contemplation of beauty, characteristic of all the gardens regardless

of historical differences among them. According to Assunto, gardens are places which

combine together aesthetics, ethics, and logic. This combination determines the

unique identity of the garden which takes various forms, depending on the individual

poetics of their makers, socio-historical realities, taste, and the correspondent ideas of

nature. Assunto’s starting points are thus historical versions of the garden, descriptive

literature, and German philosophy of the turn of the 19th century. For the Italian

philosopher, gardens have not only historical and artistic, but also ecological aspects,

so that they should be protected and restored. Assunto’s theory is a unique proposal

which anticipates today’s reflection on the topic of gardens, but seems much more

satisfactory than many contemporary approaches (A. Berleant, M. Miller, S. Ross).