There are several definitions of beauty, but what is beauty? Berkeley argues that beauty is not a sensible experience that can be immediately felt, but rather a result of intellectual activity and practical application. For a thing to be beautiful, a person must first know what it will do and evaluate its suitability for that use. Beauty may be perceived in an abstract manner, or a person may see beauty as a purely aesthetic value. This is why aesthetics is important to our understanding of the world.
In the eighteenth century, beauty became closely associated with pleasure, particularly in the British Isles. Locke differentiated between ‘primary and secondary’ qualities, and regarded color as a ‘phantasm of the mind’. Aristotle also criticized the use of color as a measure of beauty, because color is an abstract quality that cannot be reproduced with certainty. Nevertheless, the definition of beauty has survived, and we have a better understanding of its importance today than at any time in history.
Politicians and economists have historically associated beauty with aristocracy and the Rococo style. Fragonard’s paintings, for example, are hedonistic expressions of wealth that are filled with decorative motifs. In the early twentieth century, beauty also became connected to capitalism, and great art, meanwhile, was devoted to the furnishing of rich people’s homes. This association helped conceal the suffering of those who benefited from the works of great art.
Beauty is a quality that pleases the senses and is defined by a combination of qualities. It can be a combination of symmetry and proportion, age, race, gender, and weight, or anything that pleases the eye. In addition, beauty can be a result of social and cultural factors. Ultimately, beauty can be defined in terms of how a person looks and how they feel. This makes aesthetics so important in today’s culture.
Schiller also uses the terms beauty and play interchangeably, although they are not synonymous. In Schiller’s works, beauty is a form of integration and transcendence. It is not an end in itself. Art is a form of expression. It expresses ideas, feelings, and emotions, and is therefore an expression of one’s unique perspective. A beautiful object, or piece of music, will express a particular perspective. However, beauty and art are not necessarily synonymous.
As the culture of America is a mix of cultures, beauty is a multi-faceted concept. For example, American culture is intercultural, multi-racial, and has been shaped by the recent wave of immigrants. Attempting to nail down a single beauty attribute would be unfair, as it would generalize only a small portion of the continent’s population. As such, a study based on trends in beauty in America might be the best approach.
When it comes to beauty, there is no substitute for the beauty of the soul. Even the unloveliest body has a spiritual loveliness that inspires longing for discourse, which builds a noble nature and encourages us to contemplate institutions and laws. Neither of these is truly a great moment. Instead, beauty must be cherished in a deeper way and must be a source of inspiration for noble discourse. For beauty to be a noble goal, the candidate must consider the fact that every body is equally beautiful.
