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Beauty

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For other senses of this word, see Beauty (disambiguation).
Many see natural beauty in the rose.

Beauty is a quality of a person, object, place, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, affirmation, meaning, or goodness. The subjective experience of "beauty" often involves the interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature. This leads to a psychological state of attraction and positive emotions.

In its most profound sense, beauty is said to engender a salient experience of positive reflection with regard to the meaning of one's own existence. An "object of beauty" may be anything that reveals or resonates with a personal meaning. Hence religious and moral teachings have often focused on the divinity and virtue of beauty, and to assert natural beauty as an aspect of a spiritual beauty (e.g. truth).

In the modern context, the usage of beauty as means to promote an ideology or dogma has been a focus of societal debates which center around issues of prejudice, ethics, and human rights. The usage of beauty for purposes of commercialism is a controversial aspect of the "culture wars," wherein feminism typically claims such usage promotes a dogmatic (e.g. "The Beauty Myth") rather than a virtuous understanding of beauty.

The literal opposite of beauty is ugliness – i.e. the perceived lack of beauty, which stimulates displeasure and engenders a deeper negative perception of the object.

Beauty and aesthetics

Understanding the nature and meaning of beauty is one of the key themes in the philosophical discipline known as aesthetics.

The composer and critic Robert Schumann distinguished between two kinds of beauty, natural beauty and poetic beauty: the former being found in the contemplation of nature, the latter in man's conscious, creative intervention into nature. Schumann indicated that in music, or other art, both kinds of beauty appear, but the former is only sensual delight, while the latter begins where the former leaves off.

A common idea (or stereotype) suggests that beauty is in the appearance of things and people that are good. This has many supporting examples. A good apple will be perceived as more beautiful than a bruised one. Also, most people judge physically attractive human beings to be good, both physically and on deeper levels.

On the other hand, "beauty as goodness" has whole classes of significant counterexamples with no agreed solution. These include such things as a glacier, or a ruggedly dry desert mountain range. Many people find beauty in hostile nature, but this seems bad, or at least unrelated to any sense of goodness. Another type of counterexample are comic or sarcastic works of art, which can be good, but are rarely beautiful.

It is well known that people's skills develop and change their sense of beauty. Carpenters may view an out-of-true building as ugly, and many master carpenters can see out-of-true angles as small as half a degree. Many musicians can likewise hear as dissonant a tone that's high or low by as little as two percent of the distance to the next note. Most people have similar aesthetics about the work or hobbies they've mastered.

Beauty and culture

See also: Ideal beauty in the classical world
A nymph with morning glory flowers by Lefebvre. The image of the young woman is a classical symbol of human beauty, and a dominant theme in art.

The earliest theory of beauty can be found in the works of early Greek philosophers from the pre-Socratic period, such as Pythagoras. The extant writings attributed to Pythagoras reveal that the Pythagorean school saw a strong connection between mathematics and beauty. In particular, they noted that objects proportioned according to the golden ratio seemed more attractive. Some modern research seems to confirm this, in that people whose facial features are symmetric and proportioned according the golden ratio are consistently ranked as more attractive than those whose faces are not.

Symmetry may be important because it is evidence that the person grew up in a healthy way, without visible genetic defects. Although style and fashion vary widely, cross-cultural research has found a variety of commonalities in people's perception of beauty. Large eyes, for example, are considered beautiful in both men and women in all cultures. Some researchers have suggested that neonatal features are inherently attractive and thus likely to be found beautiful.

Another traditional, subtle feature that is considered an indication of beautiful women in all cultures is a waist-to-hip ratio of about 75%. The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) theory was discovered by psychologist Dr. Devendra Singh of the University of Texas at Austin. Physiologists have shown that this ratio accurately indicates most women's fertility. Traditionally, in premodern ages when food was more scarce, fat people were judged more attractive than slender.

The foundations laid by Greek and Roman artists also set the standard for male beauty in western civilization. The ideal Roman is defined as: tall, muscular, long-legged, with a full head of thick hair, a high and wide forehead – a sign of intelligence – wide-set eyes, a strong browline, a strong perfect nose and profile, a smaller mouth, and a strong jaw line. This combination of factors would, as it does today, produce an impressive "grand" look of pure handsome masculinity.

With the notable exception of female body weight, standards of beauty have remained fairly constant over time.

Effects of beauty in human society

A survey conducted by London Guildhall University of 11,000 people showed that (subjectively) good-looking people earn more. Less attractive people earned, on average, 13% less than more attractive people, while the penalty for being overweight was around 5%. Alternatively, one could say that people who earn more are more likely to be (or able to be) beautiful.

The term "beautiful people" is used to refer to those who closely follow trends in fashion, physical appearance, food, dining, wine, automobiles, and real estate, often at a considerable financial cost. Such people often mirror in appearance and consumer choices the characteristics and purchases of wealthy actors and actresses, models, or other celebrities. The term "beautiful people" originally referred to the musicians, actors and celebrities of the California "Flower Power" generation of the 1960s. The Beatles reference the original "beautiful people" in their 1967 song "Baby You're a Rich Man" on the Magical Mystery Tour album. With the close of the 1960s, the concept of beautiful people gradually came to encompass fashionistas and the "hip" people of New York City, expanding to its modern definition. Beautiful people usually enjoy an image-based and/or financially-based prestige which enhances their aura of success, power, and beauty.

The term Lookism is used to describe discrimination against others based on their appearance. Lookism relates to received notions of beauty and cultural stereotyping based on appearance as well as gender roles and expectations.

References



See also

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