Human habitats are of very different kinds; they vary from vast megalopolises to isolated wilderness areas.
In the foreseeable future, human living conditions are expected to undergo radical changes due to global warming and technological developments, and there are bound to be dramatic environmental changes.
Are there certain interpretive strategies that help us to navigate the complexities of the world? How are we to cope within the constantly changing living conditions?
The ways we encounter environments also vary a great deal, for example, depending on our personal and cultural backgrounds.
Yet, whatever the physical, social, cultural, or digital environment might be, we humans encounter it, first and foremost, with our senses. We see, hear, smell, taste, and touch, and in this way, are engaged with the environment.
Clearly, we also try to make sense of our perceptions, place our perceptions into a conceptual setting of some kind, and orient ourselves with the environment. What is the role of aesthetic experiences and aesthetic values in all this?
Whether there are any universally human ways to be in the world is an issue that many philosophers have explored.
To understand the complexity of these questions, a multidisciplinary approach is needed. Both empirical studies and conceptual analysis can throw light on the ways that humans experience the world and live in it.
The International Institute of Applied Aesthetics (IIAA) organizes its 16th International Summer Conference with the title “Experiencing Environments – Human Perspectives in the Changing World.”
With this three-day conference, the aim of the IIAA is to bring together scholars from different fields and backgrounds to discuss the experiential side of human existence in relation to the multiplicity of living environments and conditions.