Beauty is an experience of something that arouses, triggers, and stimulates reactions in the soul and mind that bring pleasure that cannot be felt before. There are many different views of beauty. Some of them are objective and others subjective.
Objectivity
The question of whether beauty is objective or subjective is an important one in Western philosophy, art and aesthetics. It has generated intense debate and a significant amount of literature.
Generally speaking, there are two basic ways of looking at beauty: either it is a set of qualities that constitutes a harmonious or coherent whole, and is therefore objective; or it is an experience in the mind. Both approaches have a great deal in common, but there are some significant differences as well.
First, some philosophers have argued that beauty is an objective fact, that is, it exists in the world and reflects a divine beauty. This is a position which Plato and other Greek philosophers have taken (though, interestingly, they tended to take the opposite approach to Christian thinkers).
These ideas were later elaborated by Thomas Aquinas, who connected the quality of beauty to the Second Person of the Trinity. He enumerated three qualifications for a thing to be beautiful: it must have integrity, that is, be complete by its own internal logic; it must have proportion and harmony; and it must be clear in a way that makes sense to the eyes.
Aquinas was also influenced by the work of Greek and Medieval philosophers, such as Aristotle and the ancient Greek philosopher Plotinus. In particular, Plotinus believed that there were certain abstract rules of aesthetics which governed how an object could be called beautiful. He was particularly interested in symmetry, as this could have implications for human life.
This is an important point, because symmetrical forms often have a strong psychological or emotional impact on the viewer. Moreover, it is important to note that Plotinus believed that beauty was not a property of an object, but an attribute of its human creator.
Moreover, it is important to note that while there are many examples of aesthetic beauty in the world, there are also some things that do not meet the traditional criteria for beauty, such as basilisks. Nevertheless, Plotinus argues that all of these things still have their own kind of beauty, which is akin to the quality of integrity, proportion and harmony.
Some of these characteristics are also reflected in the work of artists, who try to achieve the same kind of integrity or proportion or harmony in their own works. This is a goal that is not easy to reach, and it is an ongoing debate in the philosophy of art and aesthetics.
Historically, most Western philosophers and art theorists have been in favor of the view that beauty is objective. This was because it had the advantage of avoiding philistinism, as well as providing an account that could be understood and appreciated by a wide range of people. It was a more flexible account than some of the other alternatives available, as it could be applied to both nature and art. During the eighteenth century, however, a number of philosophers began to argue that beauty should be regarded as a subjective mental state, a kind of subjective sensation, rather than an objective property.