Digital Commons@RISD Home > Division of Liberal Arts > Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive) > Vol. 15 (2017)
Abstract
[1] Weather sayings are empirical rules for the prediction of weather and have been studied, so far, only by paremiologists and meteorologists. The author argues that they also present interest for environmental aesthetics, and that their aesthetic dimension is not confined to their stylistic qualities and versified form but is mainly based on the experience that underlies them. The analyses of weather lore in English, French, and German emphasize that this pre-modern, expert knowledge produced and still can bring enjoyment and, conversely, that the sources of this aesthetic enjoyment are to a large extent cognitive, even if not scientific by modern standards. These sources are specified in the paper as the intuition of a cosmic order behind a complex realm of phenomena; perceptual discrimination and descriptive accuracy, completed by aesthetic qualifications; imagination; a holistic worldview; and, finally, wisdom.