I studied Philosophy, Nordic Philology, and Anthropology at the University of Basel, Icelandic at the University of Iceland, and Biogeography at the University of Trier. My MA thesis (Philosophy) engages with the literary work of Peter Kurzeck and examines experiences of time in various cases of aesthetic appreciation (Max-Fäh-Award 2019).  Since September 2022, I have been working on my PhD thesis. My supervisors are Prof. Markus Wild and Prof. Emily Brady. I am a member of the eikones Graduate School and recipient of a SNSF Doc.CH grant.

Aesthetics, Art, Beauty, Emotions, Environment, Ethics, Happiness, Nature, Time.

Natural Beauty, Time, and the Good Life

My dissertation makes a contribution to Environmental Aesthetics by examining the following thesis: The temporal characteristics of natural entities that are manifested in specific sensual qualities invite particular experiences of time in aesthetic appreciation, especially encounters with the (deep and closer) past, the present, the flow of time (including transience and cyclicality), and animals’ times. These aesthetic nature-time experiences have a significant eudaimonic meaning, in particular because they deepen the senses of antiquity, duration, and continuity, excite profound thoughts and insights about existential time, and evoke experiences of synchronisation of world time and life time which contribute to a sense of belonging to the natural world.

FS 2022: Die Ästhetik des Erhabenen, University of Basel
HS 2021: Ethik der Zeit, University of Basel
FS 2020: Naturethik einmal anders (with Angelika Krebs, Alexander Fischer, Jan Müller and Yvonne Stocker), University of Basel
HS 2019: Naturethik (with Alexander Fischer), University of Basel

Natural Beauty and the Good Life: An International Workshop. Organized by S. Schuster and M. Wild. Call for Papers

Schuster, S. (forthcoming), On the Existential Meaning of Natural Beauty, in Hans Maes and Antony Auman (eds.), Existential Aesthetics.

Schuster, S. (forthcoming), Natural Beauty, Cyclical Time, and the Good Life, in an edited volume by Endre Szécsényi and Zoltán Somhegyi.

Schuster, S. (2023), Aesthetic Deep Time Experiences of Temporal Sublime Nature, The Polish Journal of Aesthetics. Link

Schuster, S. (2023), Zeiterleben in der naturästhetischen Erfahrung, Zeitpolitisches Magazin. Link

Schuster, S. (2021), Schöne Natur und Zeiterleben, in Angelika Krebs in Zusammenarbeit mit Stephanie Schuster, Alexander Fischer und Jan Müller: Das Weltbild der Igel. Naturethik einmal anders, Basel/Berlin: Schwabe.

“Natural Beauty, Cyclical Time, and the Good Life” at the International Workshop Abyss of Time: Temporality and Existence in Environmental Aesthetic Experience, 16-17 May 2025, Budapest, Hungary.

“Glück in der Natur” in the Seminar Ethik in den Umwelt- und Geowissenschaften, 6 May 2025, Universität Basel, Switzerland.

“Glück in der Natur” at the Zürcher Philosophiefestival, 24-25 Januar 2025, Zürich, Switzerland. Link

“On the Existential Meaning of Natural Beauty” at the 3rd Swiss Environmental and Animal Ethics Network Meeting, 21 November 2024, Fribourg, Switzerland.

“On the Existential Meaning of Natural Beauty” at Existential Aesthetics: An International Conference, 26-27 July 2024, Michigan, USA.

“Realization and Relation in Aesthetic Experiences of Nature” at the Nordic Society for Aesthetics (NSAE) Annual Conference, 13-15 June 2024, Reykjavik, Iceland.

“Aesthetic Deep Time Experiences of Temporal Sublime Nature” at the International Society of Environmental Ethics (ISEE) Europe Research Meeting, 6 December 2023, online (invited speaker).

“Adopting Timefulness. The Transformative Potential of Aesthetic Deep Time Experiences” at the International Institute for Applied Aesthetics (IIAA) XV International Summer Conference, 12-14 June 2023, Lahti, Finland.

“Zeiterleben in der naturästhetischen Erfahrung” at the 1^st session of Zeitpolitische Gespräche, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Zeitpolitik (DGfZP), 27 June 2023, online (invited speaker).

“Nature and Time” at the 1^st Swiss Environmental and Animal Ethics Network Meeting, 3 November 2022, Fribourg, Switzerland.

“Experiencing Time in Natural Environments: A Contribution to Environmental Aesthetics” at the International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE) 19^th Annual Summer Meeting, 29 June - 2 July 2022, Seili, Finland.

“Werte der Natur” at the Institute of Contemporary Design Practices (ICDP) FHNW semester project StadtKlima – Urbane Szenarien für eine zukunfstfähige Welt, May 2020, Basel, Switzerland.

“Schönheit und Zeit” at the conference Peter Kurzeck und die Natur, 23-24 April 2020, Basel, Switzerland (cancelled due to pandemics).

“The sunset (...) And one feels it, as if one glows away with it oneself - About Feeling One with Nature” (with James Morris), at the European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotions (EPSSE) conference The Meaning of Moods, 8-10 December 2015, Basel,Switzerland.