3/18/2023 0 Comments Beauty in the eye of the beholder![]() One can’t fairly say: ‘Well I don’t really feel that way about the boiling point of water or the nature of gravity.’ We have to be subservient to the facts science hands down to us. The things it passes judgement on are obviously simply not in the eye of beholders. Science, the most prestigious force in modern society, deals in objective truths. ![]() This tendency to surrender to relativism is a paradoxical symptom of a scientific age. Once it’s been uttered, trying to keep up a dialogue about the merits or drawbacks of certain visual things can come across as shrill, anti-social or just plain rude. There’s often someone around who very quickly closes the discussion down by saying: “Beauty Lies in the Eye of the Beholder” Christians should take pleasure in only those things worthy of pleasure, and what determines that worthiness is conformity to the beauty of God himself.When there are grave disagreements about what’s good and bad in architecture… For example, Philippians 4:8 commands believers to "think on" things that are "lovely" (literally "towards affection"), "commendable" (admirable), and "worthy of praise." These are terms each closely connected to our conception of beauty, and they imply that there are things both worthy and unworthy of delight. He called his new creation beautiful (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, and 25), and he prescribes specific artistic instructions for liturgical adornments so that they would manifest "glory and beauty" (Exodus 28:2).įourth, in Scripture God commands that Christians delight in what is truly beautiful. Third, in Scripture God declares particular things beautiful. Just as truth and morality find their source in the nature and character of God, so objects may be rightly called beautiful, not if someone simply delights in them, but if they likewise reflect Supreme Beauty. The biblical answer to this question is that absolute standards of beauty exist that produce pleasure for the following reasons:įirst, the self-existence of God demands absolute beauty (John 17:5, 24 Rev 4:11). In other words, is something beautiful because it brings pleasure, or do things bring pleasure because they are beautiful? Another way to put the issue is whether beauty is relative or absolute. The other important factor is the nature of the relationship between beauty and pleasure. This kind of pleasure has traditionally been called "disinterested pleasure." It is pleasure taken in something simple for itself rather than because that thing has met a need. Some pleasures occur as a result of a need being met, such as the pleasure derived from drinking a cool class of water on a hot day.Īesthetic pleasure is different because it is pleasure that comes regardless if a need is met. In other words, beauty isn't the only thing that produces pleasure. Second, "pleases." Aesthetic pleasure is not just any pleasure. Seeing, smelling, hearing, or tasting call all bring pleasure, but so can contemplating something purely abstract, such as a math theorem or a chess game. Both terms in that definition are worth considering.įirst, "apprehended." Beauty can describe things, persons, or ideas-anything that can be apprehended by the mind, and this apprehension may or may not involve the physical senses. Beauty has been classically defined as that which pleases when apprehended (Thomas Aquinas).
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