Who's To Judge If Something Is Beautiful?

Question

Beautiful faces, places, paintings..
Who gave the measurenments & rules of beauty?
Why do we say something is beautiful? where did we judge that from? We all have different opinions, but in a human's brain, what made beautiful beautiful? and ugly ugly?
Was beauty given certain rules a very long time ago by someone shallow? Can't everything be beautiful to one's eyes? or are we programmed to measure with scales inside our mind that other people in the past have programmed inside out head? Is Beauty just a theory?

Answer 1

Our minds naturally have a set of biases which predispose them to conceiving certain things as beautiful:
-that which is symmetrical and balanced
-that which we are familiar with
-that with familial characteristics, which are arguably 'imprinted' (see the work of ethologists and Konrad Lorenz)
-images that we associate with other pleasant stumuli
-that which satisfies predetermined schema, which are learned patterns
To some extent, images that are more easily processed and interpreted on account of familiarity, symmetry, resemblance, and other factors tend to be conceived as 'beautiful' or at least 'pleasing'.
Images that are askew, busy with blemishes, chaotic, or warpedness are harder to visually digest and are often judged as 'appalling' or 'ugly.'

So that component at least is determined from the visual pathways to the brain. Other factors and influence how one conceives of beauty are, of course, the society in which ones lives and the expectations one has learned from the environment: parents, peers, culture, religion, media, etc.

As for whether someone has given beauty rules: I'm sure many poets have set teh task of defining the parameters of beauty and its absence.

Although everything may not be beautiful to a person's eyes, everything can be conceived as beautiful in a person's mind, for the eyes are not the final seat of judgement. In order for one to embrace everything as beautiful, one must embrace chaos and defy natural repugnances for objects like snakes and spiders (which are written into the brain to be repulsive), as well as other characteristics which are associated with poor health, such as blemishes, and poor fitness.

A bias for beauty can thus be eliminated, although it suffices more as an elimination for the specific term and meaning of the word itself than a purge of the repulsions.
From what I know of Zen Buddhism, there is a call to accept all as beautiful, even excrement, rot, decay, disease, festering, and death.

Answer 2

I think Beauty is a judgment of value. Though people may have been "programmed" to a certain extent, I think most who take the time to think about it come up with their own judgment.

In fact you just chose to make a judgment when you said that certain rules were made long ago by someone shallow. :-)

I don't think we really have to concern ourselves about who made the rules. But we do have to know what those rules are before we break them.

Take Picasso's paintings. Or that of Van Gogh. During their time, they had to break certain concepts of art. But I don't believe that that was their goal. Rather I believe their goal was to make something honest that they believe to be beautiful. And that is all that is asked of you. To be honest to yourself and affirm what you find beautiful.

I hope though, that you do not mistake this for relativism. Know that you are a mere observer. You do not decide what is beautiful. You do not have that right. All any of us can do, is affirm beauty when we see it.

Answer 3

There's no theory of what's beautiful, although there are some scientists who try to 'define' beauty. Some years ago, I read an article saying that scientists had created the dimensions of the 'perfect' face with all the 'right' proportions and according to that, Michelle Pfeiffer had the most beautiful face. I agree she's incredibly beautiful, but the most beautiful??? I don't believe there's any such thing.

Yes, to an extent we are conditioned by our society as to what's beautiful. Many people get taken in by these external standards and spend their lives trying to measure up.....hence we have cosmetic surgery, crash dieting etc etc.

For me, beauty is highly subjective. Sometimes, I've found stray flowers growing in ditches to be more beautiful than ones in fancy stores. Or a piece of art by some obscure creator more compelling than that of any world-famous artist.

There's no universally common concept of beauty. Even if one group of people declare something or someone to be the 'most beautiful', there are always those who would beg to differ. So, whoever said 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' hit the nail on the head.

Answer 4

Define " beauty " strictly; as esthetically pleasing. This appreciation is evolved in humans and animals, whether it is an arbitrary sexual selection appreciation. ( the peacocks tail ) or an appreciation of general symmetry. ( such as the preferred human habitation vista; savanna ) You have not been evolutionarily informed, obviously. It seems that you have some relativistic notion of a beauty that has been quantified in evolutionary biology for some time. So, no, beauty is not the given rule of someone shallow, a long time ago, but the evolved appreciation of symmetrical form than we all respond to, to one degree, or another.

Answer 5

Beauty is an innate and emotional perception of life's affirmative and meaningful aspects within objects in the perceived world – e.g. vitality, fertility, health, happiness, goodness, and love. Cognition of "beauty" involves the interpretation of objects as being in balance and harmony with nature, which in turn elicits a sense and experience of attraction, affection, and pleasure.

In the modern context, the usage of beauty as means to promote an ideology or dogma has been a focus of societal debates which center around issues of prejudice, ethics, and human rights. The usage of beauty for purposes of commercialism is a controversial aspect of the "culture wars," wherein feminism typically claims such usage promotes a dogmatic (e.g. "The Beauty Myth") rather than a virtuous understanding of beauty. The literal opposite of beauty is ugliness – i.e. the perceived lack of beauty, which stimulates displeasure and engenders a deeper negative perception of the object.

Answer 6

To some extent, we all judge what is beautiful in our opinion.
Unfortunately, some of us, or perhaps all of us, are swayed in our opinions by culture or peers.
Our parents tell us the sunset is pretty, and dog poop is "yucky".
TV commercials show us "hot" items.
Everyone has an opinion, and in varying degrees, they are programmed into us that our forebears believed.
I think beauty exists, and I think that even without ancestral tradition or peer pressure, we would be drawn to some things more than others based solely on their visual aesthetic.
Are we biased? Certainly. It is part of a human brain to sort and prioritise. Just some people do it for themselves, and some people let others do it for them.

Answer 7

Beauty is not and cannot be judged by eyes alone. It is not that simple. A complex component comes into play; it is called the heart.

How many times have we corrected our first impression of beauty (by sight alone) when we had the opportunity to test it by our hearts as well.

And that is why even an ugly duckling (looks wise) will find a mate whereas Elizabeth taylor tried numerous times.

Answer 8

beauty is a set of characteristic traits that we have fondly stored in our unconscious and when numerous of these aforementioned attributes are percieved on a certain object(organic/inorganic), we hold it to be beautiful.
Being of the same species some traits of beauty are universal, however cultural situation also contributes to perception of beauty.
a third condition is one's intellectual aptitude that is to say beauty is different according to level of intellect.

Answer 9

Every thing in Creation is Beautiful. No Doubt about it. Beauty or Ugly is within you. It is your mind which plays tricks and decide by its own standards what is beauty or ugly.

Answer 10

no one can judge, beauty is a relative thing, exactly like love, happiness, luck, hope and faith, no one can give their rules, measurements, or places, coz the only rule lies in ur heart, it is in what u see...