Aesthetics

Aesthetics (also spelled æsthetics) is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art,
beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as
the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and
taste. More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as "critical reflection on art, culture
and nature."9

Etymology

The word aesthetic is derived from the Greek αἰσθητικός (aisthetikos, meaning "esthetic,
sensitive, sentient"), which in turn was derived from αἰσθάνομαι (aisthanomai, meaning "I
perceive, feel, sense"). The term "aesthetics" was appropriated and coined with new meaning in
the German form Æsthetik (modern spelling Ästhetik) by Alexander Baumgarten in 1735.2

Aesthetics as a Form of Ethics

Aesthetic ethics refers to the idea that human conduct and behaviour ought to be governed by
that which is beautiful and attractive. John Dewey has pointed out that the unity of aesthetics and
ethics is in fact reflected in our understanding of behaviour being "fair" - the word having a
double meaning of attractive and morally acceptable. More recently, James Page has suggested
that aesthetic ethics might be taken to form a philosophical rationale for peace education.

Some examples of facts are cited in blog of John Gallaher3.

Aesthetics: do you know this or do you believe this?

An aesthetic stance cannot be proven.

The unexamined art is not art.

Aesthetics participates with living-in-the-world. It has an empirical foundation. This means that
aesthetics can affect that experience as well as being affected by that experience. Art doesn’t
change but still it changes = how many Hamlets have there been by now?

9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesthetics
2. See Ibid
3. http://jjgallaher.blogspot.com
Beauty

Beauty (also called prettiness, loveliness or comeliness) is a characteristic of a person, animal,

place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction. Beauty is
studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. An "ideal beauty" is an
entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture,
for perfection.

The experience of "beauty" often involves the interpretation of some entity as being in balance
and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being.
Because this is a subjective experience, it is often said that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

There is evidence that perceptions of beauty are evolutionarily determined, that things, aspects of
people and landscapes considered beautiful are typically found in situations likely to give
enhanced survival of the perceiving human's genes. The classical Greek noun for "beauty" was
κάλλος, kallos, and the adjective for "beautiful" was καλός, kalos. The Koine Greek word for
beautiful was ὡραῖος, hōraios, an adjective etymologically coming from the word ὥρα, hōra,
meaning "hour". In Koine Greek, beauty was thus associated with "being of one's hour".Thus, a
ripe fruit was considered beautiful, whereas a young woman trying to appear older or an older
woman trying to appear younger would not be considered beautiful. In Attic Greek, hōraios had
many meanings, including "youthful" and "ripe old age"4.
10

Human Beauty

The characterization of a person as “beautiful”, whether on an individual basis or by community

consensus, is often based on some combination of inner beauty, which includes psychological
factors such as personality, intelligence, grace, politeness, charisma, integrity, congruence and
elegance, and outer beauty (i.e. physical attractiveness) which includes physical attributes which
are valued on a subjective basis5.

Standards of beauty have changed over time, based on changing cultural values. Historically,
paintings show a wide range of different standards for beauty. However, humans who are
relatively young, with smooth skin, well-proportioned bodies, and regular features, have
traditionally been considered the most beautiful throughout history.

10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty
5. See Ibid
A strong indicator of physical beauty is "averageness", or "koinophilia". When images of human
faces are averaged together to form a composite image, they become progressively closer to the
"ideal" image and are perceived as more attractive. This was first noticed in 1883, when Francis
Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, overlaid photographic composite images of the faces of
vegetarians and criminals to see if there was a typical facial appearance for each. When doing
this, he noticed that the composite images were more attractive compared to any of the individual
images.

Researchers have replicated the result under more controlled conditions and found that the
computer generated, mathematical average of a series of faces is rated more favorably than
individual faces. Evolutionarily, it makes logical sense that sexual creatures should be attracted
to mates who possess predominantly common or average features.

A feature of beautiful women that has been explored by researchers is a waist–hip ratio of
approximately 0.70. Physiologists have shown that women with hourglass figures are more
fertile than other women due to higher levels of certain female hormones, a fact that may
subconsciously condition males choosing mates.

People are influenced by the images they see in the media to determine what is or is not
beautiful. Some feminists and doctors have suggested that the very thin models featured in
magazines promote eating disorders, and others have argued that the predominance of white
women featured in movies and advertising leads to a Eurocentric concept of beauty, feelings of
inferiority in women of color and internalized racism.

The black is beautiful cultural movement sought to dispel this notion. The concept of beauty in
men is known as 'bishōnen' in Japan. Bishōnen refers to males with distinctly feminine features,
physical characteristics establishing the standard of beauty in Japan and typically exhibited in
their pop culture idols. A multi-billion-dollar industry of Japanese Aesthetic Salons exists for this
reason.

Physical Attractiveness

Physical attractiveness is the degree to which a person's physical traits are regarded as
aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability,
but can also be distinct from the two; for example, humans may regard the young as attractive for
various reasons, but without sexual attraction. There are many factors which influence one
person's attraction to another, with physical aspects being one of them. In many cases, humans
attribute positive characteristics, such as intelligence and honesty, to physically attractive people
without consciously realizing it. From research done in the United States and United Kingdom, it
was found that the association between intelligence and physical attractiveness is stronger among
men than among women.

Physical attractiveness is a characteristic that suggests fertility and health. These factors
contribute to the probability of survival and reproduction for continuing life on Earth. Men, on
average, tend to be attracted to women who are shorter than they are, have a youthful
appearance, and exhibit features such as a symmetrical face, full breasts, full lips, and a low
waist-hip ratio. Women, on average, tend to be attracted to men who are taller than they are,
display a high-degree of facial symmetry, masculine facial dimorphism, and who have broad
shoulders, a relatively narrow waist, and V-shaped torso.11

Beauty of Nature

Nature can bring a lot of beauty into our lives. Nature has a way of affecting our moods and it
can force us to change our plans. Nature is responsible for the sun, clouds, rain, and snow.
When it is sunny and bright outside, we feel cheerful inside. When it is cloudy and rainy, we
often feel gloomy. When there is a beautiful and starry night, the moonlight makes us feel
romantic.

When we see the leaves budding on a tree or when a timid flower pushes through the frozen
ground, or when we smell the freshness of spring, new hope will always come to us. Nature is
truly an intrinsic part of our lives.

When we wake and see a sunrise, when we walk and feel a breeze, when we gaze at the
mountains and the splendor of the seas, when we see the earth renew its beauty at each season of
the year, and when the stars shine at night, we should be so very thankful to the Lord for giving
us all these wonderful and miraculous things. Learning to become more aware of nature can
truly have a good effect on our lives in the way we look at things and in the way we feel about
ourselves.12

There was saying about8, “In the morning it was raining. In the evening it is not raining. In the
afternoon it was cloudy; now it is no cloudier. That is the beauty of nature because it is in a flux
and flexible and has no consistency to follow – no ideas, no rules, nothing like Ten
Commandments; do this, don't do that. It simply goes on moving in a very haphazard and absurd
way. That is its beauty. It goes on moving into the other; there is not even a little hitch. When the
day becomes night, there is not even a slight hesitation. It simply slips into the night. Then the
night slips into the day.”
11
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_attractiveness
12
http://www.pennyparker2.com/nature.html
8. http://www.osho.com/Topics/TopicsEng/beauty2.htm
In OSHO beyond Psychology, “Just look at existence and its abundance. What is the need of so
many flowers in the world? Just roses would have been enough, but existence is abundant:
millions and millions of flowers, millions of birds, millions of animals -- everything in
abundance. Nature is not ascetic; it is everywhere dancing -- in the ocean, in the trees. It is
everywhere singing -- in the wind passing through the pine trees, in the birds...

What is the need of millions of solar systems, each solar system having millions of stars? There
seems to be no need, except that abundance is the very nature of existence that richness is the
very core that existence does not believe in poverty. Look at nature, look at existence, and you
will see that what man has done is against it. My effort is to bring man back to his natural self.”
13

13
Osho, Beyond Psychology Chapter 9: I want to provoke your jealousy
Copyright © 2004 Osho International Foundation