Rosario Assunto’s philosophy of the garden: A reflection on how beauty, idea, action and contemplation intertwine in the garden

Our theme for the autumn and winter terms is ‘An Open Book: Gardens in Literature and Letters’.

Rosario Assunto (1915- 1994) was an Italian philosopher who worked mainly on aesthetics, defending its importance not just for philosophy, but for human life in all its breadth. His thought, often confrontational regarding dominant positions, spans medieval aesthetics to design, contemporary art and – his main work – the garden and landscape. In writings such as Ontologia e teleologia del giardino (Ontology and teleology of the garden), Assunto explores such questions as ‘Why do we need gardens? Why can we find them all over the world? What is, if any, their essence?’, proposing the garden as model for a balanced relationship between humans and their natural surroundings, guided by aesthetic contemplation. This paper presents an overview of Assunto’s reflection on the meaning of the garden and garden-making for philosophy – and thus, their meaning and value for us.

Moirika Reker holds a PhD in Philosophy from the School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon on the philosophy of the garden in Rosario Assunto, and an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University, New York. She has studied free media at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, in Amsterdam, at Ar.Co (Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual) in Lisbon, and at the School of Visual Arts, in New York. She is an integrated member of the Centre of Philosophy of the University of Lisbon, conducting her research mainly in the field of aesthetics and philosophy of nature, with a particular focus on the garden and landscape in their relationship to the city. She is the co-editor with Adriana V. Serrão of Philosophy of Landscape. Think, Walk, Act (Ribeirão: Edições Húmus, 2022).