How can a beautiful object, building, person, thing be recognized? Is it desire or envy that defines what we find beautiful? Can one observe something beautiful without also wanting it? Why do museums sell copies of their collection and why do we buy them? Is our belief in physical human beauty a qualitative survival strategy? Do we extend that onto objects, buildings, poetry, vistas? Is beauty measurable (by tracking the release of brain chemicals or by other physical means)? Do different cultures have rules for what is beautiful? Are these rules relative or universal and a function of being "human"? Do we define an object, painting, song, line of text as beautiful simply because it survived through the ravages of time and taste? If we bought or now own something, did we consider its beauty in deciding to keep it? Or is the randomness of surviving enough to define an object as beautiful? Why do we preserve some things and destroy others?
2006-07-06
22:24:48
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10 answers
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asked by
nonoseknows
1
in
Philosophy