Beauty is an aesthetic quality, the property or feature of a person, object, animal, idea, or place that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction. It is studied in aesthetics, culture, psychology, and philosophy.
The concept of beauty has received much attention throughout the history of philosophy, from Plato to modern neuro-psychological studies. Its definition is not clear and differs widely among people.
According to Aquinas, there are three essential elements of beauty: integrity (integritas sive perfectio), proportion (debita proportion sive consonantia), and clarity (claritas). Almost everyone agrees that symmetry of parts towards each other and towards a whole is an essential component of beauty.
A similar conception is exemplified in the Canon, an ancient medical treatise that specifies the symmetriae of the body. It is also a guiding principle in the art of sculpture, as Polyclitus demonstrated when he deigned the statue of the Cantonius to display the proper proportions of the limbs.
In contemporary society, the concept of beauty has been criticized for its emphasis on youth and body type as opposed to strength, wisdom, and courage. The focus on perfection and appearance has led to a society that is less tolerant of differences than it used to be. However, there are still many people who do not fall into the mold of being considered beautiful and have found success in the business world.
One example of this is the new movement in society that allows people with perceived disabilities to be accepted and made a part of mainstream society. The beauty that lies within the mind, spirit, and heart is what makes a person unique. Finding inner peace, letting go of expectations and being present allows you to be beautiful on your own terms.
Historically, philosophers have often distinguished between the concept of pure or natural beauty and that of artificially constructed, manufactured, or synthetic beauty. In the nineteenth century, this distinction was largely disregarded, but it has been revived in recent years, particularly as a result of feminist philosophy and critiques of dominant body norms.
A purely natural and organic conception of beauty was put forward in the eighteenth century by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, who coined the term aesthetics to describe the study of human sensibility. The idea that beauty is an inborn and natural quality was argued to be superior to the concept of artifice, which is a product of our cultural environment.
This view of beauty is in line with the classical conception, which has its roots in ancient Greek and Roman thought. This conception, which can be traced to the Greek philosopher Philosopher Apollonius of Tyana and echoed by Aquinas, held that things which are inherently good or beautiful have certain properties such as harmony of form, proportion, and clarity.
The problem with this approach is that it does not take into account the fact that humans are capable of experiencing many different kinds of feelings, and that these feelings can have different associations with different objects. This means that an oil painting can be beautiful to a man who enjoys picking flowers in Montana over the summer, while a Van Gogh self-portrait may not be so attractive to him.