What Is Beauty?

Ancient treatments of beauty often refer to the pleasures of being beautiful and describe them in ecstatic terms. Plotinus describes beauty as the delight of wonderment, the tasty trouble of love, and trembling. The latter he associates with the feeling of being loved. In the end, beauty is all pleasure. And yet, the Greeks and Romans differed on what constitutes beauty. Today, both Plato and Aristotle agree that there is an object of aesthetic value.

Some philosophers argue that beauty is a subjective concept that has no universal definition. They argue that beauty is a state of perfection characterized by symmetry. In addition, they say that beauty is suited to use and is not arbitrary. In other words, beauty has to satisfy the aesthetic senses. It must also be aesthetically pleasing and have a pleasing effect on the eyes. Those who disagree with this view argue that beauty is not objective.

The definition of beauty varies across cultures and time periods. Classical conceptions of beauty define it as the relation between parts and the whole, thereby creating a unified whole. Hedonist conceptions, on the other hand, see the relationship between beauty and pleasure. They define a beautiful object as one that is appealing to the eye and that can give the user a sense of pleasure. They say that things that are colorful are beautiful.