Aesthetic Terraforming. Cosmo-morphologies for Troubled Times
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How to Cite

Tenti, G. (2021). Aesthetic Terraforming. Cosmo-morphologies for Troubled Times. Aesthetica Preprint, (117). Retrieved from https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/aesthetica-preprint/article/view/1679

Abstract

Although more common in science-fiction than in philosophy, the concept of terraforming intercepts a particularly significant vein of contemporary thought. The world-making practices belong to an ancient morphological art that brings together humans and other species: every living being, as such, shapes an Earth, thus becoming a condition of life itself. Moreover, every living being does so together with other beings, following the systemic structure of life.
This paper aims to introduce a cosmo-morphic aesthetics through the concept of terraforming, which literally means the act of shaping a planet into a habitable world. We will claim that this concept evokes different understandings of the traditional notions of artefact, creative act and artistic doing, particularly in relation to the ideas of non-objectivability, deep agency and ecopoiesis.

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