whats that thing inside us that tell us what is beautiful?..where does it come from?
you know what i mean?!
2007-02-01 20:31:14 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
great question, my guess is a combination of learned behaviors and evolutionary instinct with the greater emphasis on learned but i can pick holes in this opinion. Would a flower appear beautiful to a person that has been locked in a room their whole life? hmm
2007-02-01 20:45:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it is only partly "something inside us". There are things that are almost universally regarded as beautiful (like a baby's smile), and these may have a biological origin (eg in terms of brain chemistry). But there are external, cultural influences too, so that in some countries, or in some historical periods, things are 'agreed' to be beautiful which would not be seen as such in other times or places.
I suppose an example of this would be the idea of what constitutes beauty in a woman. In the eighteenth century in Europe, today's supermodels would have been regarded as ugly, and their slender figures as a sign of extreme povery or illness. The cultural ideal of female beauty at that time was a rounded, well-covered shape which implied health and fertility.
So I think some of what we see as beautiful comes from inside, and some comes from associations with pleasant childhood experiences. But some of our ideas of beauty are shaped by the cultural 'stories' we grew up with and are immersed in.
2007-02-01 20:55:00 · answer #2 · answered by Felida 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lots of things need to be present in an object/person for us to think its beautiful. The thing that comes along that ticks the most boxes is the most appealing. Funny how the very thing that is beautiful to oneperson is perhaps seen as something undesirable to others
2007-02-02 04:58:14 · answer #3 · answered by intelligentbutdizzy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A sense of beauty is something you learn.
So the countryside, the people, the life that you learned to call beautiful when you were little will always be more beautiful to you than someone's who was brought up differently.
I was brought up in reach of the South Downs of England and close to the sea. To me these places will always be more beautiful than forests or mountains. Not because they are, but because that's the way my eye was trained.
2007-02-01 20:49:54 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that this is one of the few human "instincts" that we still use without even trying. All the others such as hunting etc have been replaced by going shopping to buy your needs.
Humans are animals, extremely intelligent animals (you wouldnt know it though by how much we kill each other) and all animals have basic instincts. "Beauty" is the one instinct that we still have the luxury of appreciating
[This is an edit] Whoops I probably should have read the other answers before posting! I just noticed that someone had already said something about instincts etc but yeah........
2007-02-01 21:18:36 · answer #5 · answered by ya_face_sux 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
some of the ways we judge whether or not a person is beautiful are to do with survival instincts, and that goes back to the start of human existence. sometimes irregular features could be a sign of disease or genetic problems, and animals are prone to choosing the best possible mate in order to try to secure the health of future generations...... as for things like scenery, clothing, etc, etc, some of it is due to media, we are taught what is supposed to be beautiful from a young age... and parents are also responsible for shaping the way we feel about things.. i know that as a mother i am always pointing to things like rainbows & flowers and saying to my little son 'ooo - pretty !'. lol. (sad, but true) also, some of our opinions are influenced by things that interest us in other ways..... for example, i like rock / goth music, and it's influenced the way i feel about certain colours, clothes, and other things like that. lol - we really are complicated creatures.....
2007-02-01 20:55:44 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Things are continually falling out of balance against a serene background. That is why we see the beauty and the sorrow. Plus the fact we all die in the end!
2007-02-01 23:00:53 · answer #7 · answered by los 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In an experiment, a Negro boy was shown a line of beautiful girls, and was asked to select the most beautiful one. He replied that none of them is beautiful. In the second round, he was shown a line of girls including a Negro girl. He selected the Negro girl as most beautiful.
A blind can't see the beauty.
Beautiful looking is an impulsive appeal. Sometimes, once beautiful may not give same appeal.
Practically, it is the moment, your fitness, your mind set and the impulsive appeal, which controls this choice that what is beautiful and what is not beautiful.
2007-02-01 20:51:07 · answer #8 · answered by Kakoo 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is the conditioning we have as a child, you will find that you probably like the same things as your parents do in the early stages in your life, because they are your main influence.
Then your friends when you are at school.
Also if something affects you in a positive or negative way you will always view that thing in the same way all our lives.
2007-02-01 20:41:00 · answer #9 · answered by natasha * 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
i think in part we see what we want to see .take a new baby for example each side of the family see the resemblance to their side and not the other
also i feel emotion could play a part if you fall in love you look through rosy coloured glasses and see every part of the person in some way attractive but after you break up how many people have said i don`t know what i saw in him/her
so i think it must be clouded by emotion
2007-02-01 20:52:11 · answer #10 · answered by keny 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋