ABSTRACT
Following up our introduction to formalism in Chapter 2, in this chapter I consider the significance of formal qualities-in particular, in the aesthetic appreciation and evaluation of the natural environment. The topic is of interest for at least two reasons. The first is that there is a marked emphasis on formal qualities in much of the current non-theoretical research in environmental aesthetics. The second is that recent philosophical discussion of the aesthetics of the natural environment suggests that the whole question of formal aesthetic qualities in the natural environment is more perplexing than it at first appears.
