ABSTRACT
The love of nature is characteristically expressed as a love of concrete particulars within the natural world. This “love” involves appreciating the distinct qualities of the beloved, as well as wishing that its life—literally or metaphorically speaking—be going well. (A withering plant, poisoned lake, or dammed canyon is not doing well.) I discuss the extent to which love for a natural entity involves a certain mode of perception, one that is illustrated and described in the writings of Henry David Thoreau. Specifically, I argue that the ability to appreciate the beauty of a place requires a loving awareness of that place in its particularity. I explain why it is that, when we take a fair yet charitable view of something, we become better acquainted with its best qualities, whereas the emotionally detached observer remains comparatively blind. Love thus functions as a source of illumination, bringing aspects of our environment into our awareness. Furthermore, a modest realism about the value of what we thereby perceive allows us to account for why the natural world affects us in the ways that it does.
