Beauty, in the eye of the beholder?
Dear friends,
Last time I mentioned that ancient philosophers' attitudes towards esthetics were mainly based on whether a thing is practical, pleasing or realistic. This time we want to look at some modern day interpretations about the aesthetic qualities of beauty and ugliness.
Baumgarten (1714-1762), an 18th century German expert on the scientific theory in judging the beautiful, stated: "Perfection makes objects look beautiful." In other words, a perfect thing must fulfill all the standards of excellence -- every facet must be complete and finished. All the forms and colors in a composition must be harmonious, yet unified and orderly, otherwise it would look chaotic.
Baumgarten also said: "If we use ethics to get satisfactory completion, it's good; if we use scientific principles to prove perfection, then it is the truth; if we feel this perfection through sensibility, it is beautiful." Therefore, we believe everything may reach perfection if it has achieved these three steps satisfactorily. This is the so-called "truth, goodness, beautiful combined doctrine".
Besides Baumgarten, there were Wincklmann (1717-1768) and Lessing (1729-1781) -- two famous philosophers who held the opposite viewpoints to Baumgarten. They believed that beauty is entirely independent, thus "Beauty is beauty, it has absolutely nothing to do with ethic and scientific judgment."
However, in modern aesthetic studies, there are two important but conflicting doctrines: The objective and subjective viewpoints. The former holds that beauty is within all objects (born with), whereas the latter holds that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
The objective view derived from an 18th century English painter, Hogarth (1679-1764). He said: "All objects are formed by straight and curved lines -- curved lines are more beautiful then straight lines."
There are other scholars who believe that beauty consists of the following elements:
1. Small Forms -- Women are smaller, therefore more beautiful. In Chinese literature, all beauties are described as small, like "miss" (small sister) and petit (pretty and small). All lovely jewelry is small.
2. Smoothness -- All beauties have soft, clear, clean and fair skin. In poems, we often read "jade girl" and "jade skin", etc. as praises. People love jade and marble for their smooth surfaces.
3. Beautiful Curves -- This came from Hogarth. We also use the word curve to praise the figures of young girls and beautiful landscapes.
4. Delicate (weak) -- Our usual pets, like cats, small dogs, birds and fish, etc. are all delicately small. Children are weak, therefore lovely.
5. Color (bright and soft) -- If a color is too strong, it dazzles the eyes. Most people avoid direct sunlight (although a lot of white Westerners find sunbathing desirable). Most women love to use pale face powder. We have an old saying: "When one has fair skin one overcomes all ugliness."
The above objective doctrine has some merits, i.g. every object has some natural born qualities. Otherwise, one would say: "My lover is as beautiful as a bullfrog or as lovely as a pig." (see illustration).
Until next time.
-- Kwo Da-Wei