BEAUTY

THEORIES OF BEAUTY

 Is beauty universal?
Is beauty objective or subjective?
Is beauty really in the eye of the
beholder?
Or it is an objective features of
beautiful things.

Theories of Beauty
The Classical Conception of Beauty (objective)
This idea of beauty, is embodied in Italian Renaissance
painting and architecture:
To be beautiful is to have proportion, harmony, and
symmetry. (nature or work of art)
to be beautiful, a living creature, and every whole made
up of parts, must present a certain order in its
arrangement of parts

Aristotle (Poetics)

Aristotelian Ethics (A good life is a life live in moderation)

 Counter argument there are things

that do not display asymmetry but
we consider them beautiful. (nature)
Flower
Peacock
Swan

 Idealist Conception of Beauty

(Objective)
Plato : art as a copy of copy of real
things.
We can only experience portion of
perfect beauty.
Gradation of things: beautiful, more
beautiful and most beautiful.

 If Plato is with us today, he would

despise us for indulging in virtual
images.
Photo shopped pictures
Graphic images
Because for him those are mere copies
of copies of reality. And copy will always
be inferior to the original.
And lastly it creates delusion.

 Beauty as love and Longing

by beauty I mean, that quality of those
qualities in bodies, by which they cause
love, or some passion similar to it
- Edmund Burke

 Beauty and Pleasure

Bybeautifulwe generally understand
whatever, when seen, heard, or understood,
delights, pleases, and ravishes us by causing
within us agreeable sensations
Augustine asks explicitly whether things are
beautiful because they give delight, or
whether they give delight because they are
beautiful.

 Beauty and Purpose

Every one knows that beauty is what
pleases
But it pleases for reasons of usefulness.
things are beautiful only in relation to
the uses for which they are intended or
to which they are properly applied.

 According to John Locke, beauty is

not a primary quality that resides in
the material object, but a secondary
that resides in the perceiver.
Primary qualities- those that belong
to the material object. (solid or weight,
extension or volume and motion)
Secondary qualities those that
belong to the perceiver. (touch, sight,
sound, and taste)

 Beauty is perceive through the sense of

sight, and in view of the relative standard
that each individual may possess.
(depends on ones orientation)
Painting
Music
Movie
Architecture (building) etc

Hence, perception of beauty may vary.

beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

conclusion
All these theories of beauty are possibilities
in that they are not reducible to truth and
falsity.
Therefore, we conclude that beauty is
subjective and objective at the same time.
It is subjective because we perceive things
differently.
It is objective because whenever we experience
beauty we also experience pleasure, love and
longing for that object regardless whether it is
useful or not.

Art enables
us to find
ourselves
and lose
ourselves at
the same
time.
Thomas
Merton

Art wasnt supposed to

look nice; it was
supposed to make you
feel something.
- Rainbow Rowell

The Earth
without art is
just
eh