Is beauty a fact or an opinion (my discussion with my logic professor)?

Question

My logic professor stated that it was a fact that the Mona Lisa was beautiful. Dont get me wrong I think that it is beautiful but I think that that is an opinion. Any opinions (lol)?

I said that beauty was in the eye of the beholder and he asked me who told me that. That other professors were putting our minds in boxes and we needed to think outside them. He gave the example of when everyone thought that the world was flat it was a fact it was a wrong fact but at that time it was a fact. So since it is improvable to be false it must be true.

Answer 1

You are right he is wrong and that is a fact.
It is said 'Tis better to debate a question without settling it, than to settle a question without debating it.
PS I dont think the Mona Lisa is beautiful.

Answer 2

To put it simply Beauty is an opinion.

I think your professor confuses belief/opinions, and facts/truth. The world is round is a fact. Anyone can believe or have an opinion that the world is flat, but it does not change the fact that the world is round, regardless how many people believe the statement that the world is flat. As you know, back in the day millions of people thought the world was flat when, in actuality, it is round. So, no matter how many people might believe in something, their belief has no bearing on whether that something is a fact.



Now that we distinguished fact and belief, look at your Professor's statement. He cannot say that beauty is a fact based on his statement it is a fact that "the Mona Lisa is beautiful", because although it might be a fact that the Mona Lisa is beautiful the statement is declaring a fact about the painting "the Mona Lisa" and not about beauty itself. The professor would have to state that Beauty is a fact if and only if Beauty is the Mona Lisa, and we all know that is not a fact because Beauty can be many things other than the Mona Lisa.


Therefore, Beauty must be an opinion/belief rather than a fact. I hope this helps.

P.S. I put this in logical form since he is a Professor of logic, so that he might put this in his poverbial pipe and smoke it

Answer 3

I have no idea why your professor said that it was a FACT. It could only be a fact that the Mona Lisa is beautiful if everyone thought that she was. There are a lot of people who think the Mona Lisa is not very attractive (myself included!).

Beauty is definitely a statement of opinion. Because our world is so diverse, there are many different standards and perceptions that people hold regarding beauty.

Answer 4

In my opinion, beauty is only partially in the eye of the beholder. For example, people who are unfortunate enough to have massive burns on their face are not considered beautiful by the majority of society. One could say that they are not "beautiful" as a fact.

However, this person someday might have a "beautiful" face (like the Mona Lisa's) and still be considered ugly by some people who have been taught different values. In this way, beauty is our personal opinion on certain facts.

Answer 5

The thing about beauty being in the eye of the beholder is that the beholder is influenced by nuture, popular opinion, and expectationsn of those who infulence what beauty is or isn't.

There is an interesting short film made by the late... gosh I can't think of his name.......anyhow the film is shot showing a woman in a hospital with her face wrapped in bandages.The other people's faces in the movie arn't shown until the end of the movie.

The woman has had repeated operations all to fix her disfigured ugly face. When her bandages are taken off, she looks in a mirror and screams. and those around her gasp at the sight of her. Then her face is shown and she is pretty, then the camera goes to the other people who by our standards are hidiuosly disfugured. Thus....to the doctor's and nurses the womann was ugly and in their minds that was a fact.

I am thinking that maybe your professor means that the painting of the Mona Lisa is beautiful....as opposed to "her" herself being beautiful. Remember your professor is challenging your thorught process and also your ability to form your own thoughts outside of his.

Answer 6

Beauty is an opinion. Just like everything else.

EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE.

It sounds like your professor is being contradictive, The Mona Lisa is beauty, he thinks this is fact, yet he says to think outside the box? Wouldn't questioning the facts, questioning what others believe in...wouldn't that be considered "thinking outside the box"?

Answer 7

It is a fact that the Mona Lisa is beautiful, in his opinion. So beauty is a fact of opinion. Any opinion about something subjective, like beauty, is a fact to that person.
Does that make sense?

Answer 8

It is strictly an opinion. Current social norms are inclined to define beauty. It is only when the beholder defines it that it becomes relevant. It happens so I really don't believe the Mona Lisa is all that beautiful. But, she was lovely for her day.

Answer 9

Actually it is more of a concept. It could not be a fact as a fact is static and unchanging. beauty is varied and involve the synthesis of variable that are not the same to every one.

I've saw the Mona Lisa, frankly when i saw it in person, much of the mystic that inferred beauty was, for me at least, missing.

best wishes!

Answer 10

Beauty is absolutely opinion that is evidenced by the fact that what is beautiful/ideal differs from culture to culture, even from region to region. For example while we as Americans may find neck rings used by some people in Africa and Asia to elongate the neck, hideous- it's a thing of beauty to them. The same can be said of foot binding practiced by some Asian cultures. Many cultures think American women strive to be too thin, yet some of us are literally dying to be as thin as possible. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"