The Nature of Real Beauty

The Nature of Real Beauty

Beauty is often defined as an appealing attribute of certain objects, which makes these objects enjoyable to see. Such objects may include beautiful sunsets, outdoor landscapes, humans in motion, beautiful works of art and other artistic creations. Beauty, along with aesthetic appreciation, is perhaps the most important theme of aesthetics, another of the important branches of contemporary philosophy. It is worth noting that aesthetic beauty exists in nature and is even more prevalent than you might believe; the beautiful thing about nature is that it is ever changing, always new, an object of fascination for everyone.

For an object to be considered beautiful, it must satisfy some subjective or personal criteria, which may be formulated by the beholder (which includes ourselves). Beauty is usually understood in physical terms: colours, shapes, textures, the visual aspect, the ‘look’ or ‘unsettled’ look of a work of art etc. But beauty can be experienced as a subjective quality, where something is pleasing to the person who is viewing it. Beauty has been defined as an emotion, an inherent positive feeling that can be experienced in our body or in the environment. Beauty is a very personal experience, and can only be understood by the person who experiences beauty, either consciously or unconsciously.

We may, like some eminent philosopher of ancient times, think that real beauty comes from the eternal nature of things, which cannot be destroyed, and which therefore must be appreciated without compromise. The beauty of nature, as experienced by a beholder, provides a strong sense of pleasure and gratification, regardless of its object. And as regards the question of whether beauty is subjective or objective, beauty is objective, being independent of a particular state or condition. The object or situation that an object arouses in a particular beholder will determine whether this beholder deems that object beautiful or not.