What Is Beauty?
Beauty is often described as a subjective feature of things which makes these things pleasing to see. These things include natural landscapes, sunsets, beautiful humans, and masterpieces of art. Beauty, along with personal taste and aesthetic sense, is perhaps the most important area of aesthetic philosophy, arguably the most important philosophical branch of all. As the famous French writer Malebolle argued beauty is a matter of the “abstraction of our inner being,” this line of thinking is at the heart of all aesthetic appreciation.
The essential characteristic of beauty, according to many philosophers, is symmetry. This suggests that all things must have a well-balanced aspect, a symmetrical aspect, a form that is both delicate and strong at the same time. Beauty therefore is a subjective aspect that can be considered in a number of different ways. According to the majority of philosophers, beauty is a sort of aesthetic objectivity, the ability to see an object or situation in a unique and particular way, and the ability to appreciate its inherent qualities regardless of their beauty.
In contrast, some other philosophers argue that beauty is not merely an aesthetic quality but also a physical attribute or trait that can be objectively measured. This school of thought is known as the post-rhetoric school of thought. Under this view, beauty is defined by what appeals to the majority of people. In fashion, beauty is often associated with the styles of high fashion designers such as Tom Ford or coats designed by British designer John Galliano, but this idea of beauty is not limited to fashion and does not mean that all fashionable people are aesthetically flawless.
On the other side of the argument, some people believe that beauty is a subjective aesthetic quality that is not dependent on the aesthetic senses but is grounded in the social world of everyday life. This school of thought is known as the aesthetic gaze theory or, more precisely, as the aesthetic context theory. According to this theory, beauty is not something that can be measured and appreciated independently of the person viewing it, or the social world. The social media aesthetic may appeal to some as opposed to others, but the truth is that it is only an aesthetic quality that can be objectively assessed.
However, there is still another school of thought in aesthetics which believes that beauty is something that is experienced rather than an objective quality. In this view, beauty is a sort of emotion and therefore something that can be objectively measured. If you look at a person lying on the beach, you will notice many aspects of the person such as the sun’s rays, the sand on the beach, and even the sea itself. However, these aspects of the body do not have any aesthetic value according to this school of thought.
Some people do consider that beauty is a subjective experience and only an aesthetic quality that can be measured. However, when you look at beauty through the eyes of a beholder, you can see different aspects of beauty in different subjects. Beauty is subjective and beauty can only be found in the mind of the beholder. What social media does is allow us to measure beauty objectively and thus redefine beauty.