Great physical beauty (or handsomeness)
OR
Great Inner Beauty (Kindness, Compassion, etc.)
Remember, it can only be one or the other.
If you are physically beautiful then you are vain, if inner beauty then you are physically ugly.
WHY do you choose this?
Thanks.
2007-03-19 14:18:37 · 16 answers · asked by Arthur N 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
In either case, you will suffer as a consequence of your lack of the one you didn't pick, so the real question is which one will best enable you to handle the pain caused by only having the one and not the other?
It would only make sense to choose inner beauty. If you were very good looking but had an ugly character, you would lack the virtuous nature necessary to properly gain happiness from your beauty. Only a person who is beautiful inside can achieve true happiness, so a beautiful face would do nothing toward making a person happy unless they were also a good person inside.
A good person, on the other hand, would have the strength, fortitude, loving nature, and good sense to learn to deal with physical ugliness and be happy in spite of it.
That being said, many a person possesses one or both already. If you pay attention, generally you will find that those who demonstrate great inner beauty but are not attractive will be well loved by others despite their appearance, and those who are beautiful but are not good people will be shunned by anyone but the most superficial and foolish people.
2007-03-19 16:07:44 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Hmmm...lets play the devil's advocate and pick outer beauty.
Great Physical beauty would give me many real world advantages. Studies have proven that the "pretty" people end up in higher paying jobs and have more opportunies in life. A youth filled with many good job opportunities will help me build up my wealth so that I will have a good retirement fund to fall back on when I lose my looks.
When I hit middle age, I will fall hard and fast as I realize that my looks are fading. This will give me an unparralled opportunity to grow as a person, realize the follies of my youthful arrogance and decide to give back to society. With my very healthy bank accounts and new found humanity, I will be able to help more people than if I had lived a life of quiet contentment, secure in my inner beauty.
Or, should this choice include a static personality, not open to change, I can just buy myself the affections a cute blond 26 year old when I'm 89.
2007-03-20 05:23:11 · answer #2 · answered by Linda 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Inner beauty. Physical beauty is only temporary and very often a boost for your ego. When you are beautiful inside you really don't care about external appearances or what other people think of you so there are no risks of becoming depressed or have a low self-esteem. You know who you are, you have accepted what you are and on top of that you are a loving, compassionate, kind and wonderful person. You don't have to be physically beautiful, cause all your inner beauty is radiated to everyone you meet touching their hearts. You are a beacon or truth, beauty and goodness.
2007-03-19 22:12:32 · answer #3 · answered by Alexander K 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would like to choose Great Inner Beauty...
What is physical beauty???
It is actually something judged by somebody who can most likely appreciate it...
When can you say one is beautiful??
When you are attracted to him/her...
Who can be attracted to one??
Those who had a different taste than the other...
Remember, no one can ever tell one is beautiful, because, it is a fact that there is also someone who can say that person is not beautiful... Also, no one can say one is not beautiful, since for sure, there would always be someone who can say that person is beautiful..
We can still say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
2007-03-19 22:49:52 · answer #4 · answered by agent 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because beauty is merely a tool for sex and capitalistic gain, I would much rather have Great Inner Beauty. I'm sure that anyone else who answers this will give you a similar response. Few will actually admit to a physical beauty preference, because we are taught that it's bad to want to be beautiful over wanting to be 'good hearted'. ;-)
2007-03-19 21:28:08 · answer #5 · answered by dana o 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Inner beauty, because relationships based on superficial traits are meaningless and unsatisfying in every way, to me. And I believe you reap what you sow in life and I would rather be surrounded by kind, compassionate, caring people than a bunch of selfish egotists.
2007-03-19 21:26:37 · answer #6 · answered by barbara b 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think you rather cripple us--LOGICALLY--with your one or the other being: "If you are physically beautiful then you are vain, if inner beauty then you are physically ugly," as if these were absolutes. They are not. Kimberly gave you a beautiful answer, however, your premise is flawed & I cannot answer it.
2007-03-21 01:32:07 · answer #7 · answered by Psychic Cat 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hi Arthur N,
Beauty is as beauty does.... This is, because it is our "actions that determine our beauty"... Beautiful young people are : "acts of nature".... Beautiful people, regardless of age, are acts of character..... :)
>>>>>>>>>>>
Beauty in itself, is nothing at all............
Beauty by itself, does "not" achieve anything, does not produce anything, does not even exist unless it is being observed.............
Beauty is inert by itself..... It only comes to life, when someones eyes rest upon its surface... It is these pair of eyes, that will give it its value.....
Once beauty has come to life through the eyes of an observer, it can become a simple aesthetic joy... as long as "the onlooker", does not attribute moral qualities to it ...
>>>>>>>>>
By attributing moral qualities... (of goodness, the most common), beauty has now become the responsibility of the observer.... And so therefore "beauty" can not exist by itself
>>>>>>>
From here on, all desirability, inspiration, and positive attributions given to beauty, are the sole responsibility of the observer....
Beauty coming to life through his.. or her eyes.... Hence the expression beauty is.. "in the eye of the beholder"....
Therefore, it would be more accurate to say, beauty "only" exists... within : "the eye of it's beholder"....... :)
>>>>>>>>>>
This is what I am thinking/feeling about it.....
When you don't have the beauty.. in your heart... you have nothing...
Thanks, for the question! :)
My regards!
Take care!
2007-03-19 22:18:44 · answer #8 · answered by Kimberly 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe it is a fair choice, one way or the other it will be hard to hold down relationships and lets face it when people think of any kind of beauty it's usually used to attract other people, (sensually)
2007-03-19 21:40:48 · answer #9 · answered by iamjustbored10 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
inner beauty fosters out word beauty
2007-03-19 21:48:33 · answer #10 · answered by the professor 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋