Philosophy Of Beauty By Eliza Weekes

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Philosophy Of BeautyBy Eliza Weekes

• Introduction (Aesthetics)
• Ancient Greek Beauty
• Immanuel Kant
• Male Beauty
• Female Beauty over time
• Beauty today
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

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Beautiful Men

• There are characteristics in beautiful men that
  have been consistent through time. The consistent
  characteristics being the ones that make them
  beautiful, bring pleasure to our senses when we
  see them.
• A beautiful man from the 16th century, in
  comparison to a beautiful man from the 21st
  century, depicts that there is little difference.

16th Century man
21st Century man
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Michael Angelos sculpture, David

• Michael Angelos sculpture of David in 1501, is
  thought to be a representation of the perfect
  man. I believe this sculpture is perfect for a
  number of reasons.
• His body and face are in proportion
• He has a muscular body that would be capable of
  protecting others. This has been an evolutionary
  ideal characteristic. As in the past and even
  today the male is often expected to protect his
  family, and therefore this body type would be
  good potential mating material.
• He is attractive and therefore would have good
  genes to pass on in reproduction.
• He has a healthy body shape and appearance and
  will therefore pass on healthy genes

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David Beckham

• David Beckham is a popular man of the 21st
  century. He is seen by many people as beautiful
  and this is once again for a number of reasons
  similar to Michael Angelos David.
• His body and face are in proportion
• He has a muscular body, that is capable of
  protecting, and potential mating material
• He is attractive and therefore has good genes to
  pass on in reproduction
• He has a healthy shape and appearance, therefore
  will pass on healthy genes.

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Immanuel Kant

• Immanuel Kant who was a German Philosopher had
  quite an opinion in aesthetics. He believed that
  for a man to say something that brings pleasure
  to the senses is agreeable, he is quite content
  if someone else corrects his terms and reminds
  him to say instead, It is agreeable to me,
  because everyone has his own taste.
• With beauty it is however different to
  agreeableness, because if he states something to
  be beautiful, then he requires the same liking
  from others. He then judges not just for himself
  but for everyone, and speaks of beauty as if it
  were a property of things.

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Introduction to Aesthetics

• Aesthetics is the study of beauty, whether it be
  in the form of humor, the tragic or sublime. The
  word is derived from the Greek aisthetikos
  meaning of sense perception. Judgments of
  aesthetic value heavily rely on our ability to
  discriminate at a sensory value. It examines what
  makes something beautiful, disgusting, sublime,
  cute, fun, silly, entertaining, boring, humorous
  or tragic. Every day people are judging things in
  some shape or form. Many people strive for beauty
  in themselves and their lives as it seems to have
  a positive and satisfying affect. The reaction to
  something beautiful is often an amazing feeling
  of happiness and love, an innately desired
  feeling. Where as when people feel disgust
  towards something the feeling is negative and
  clearly undesired. These feelings of sensory
  detection are linked in instinctual ways to
  facial expressions. The feeling and the facial
  expression will relate and are often universal.

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Ancient Greek Beauty

• The ancient Greek mathematicians first studied
  what we know today as the Golden Ratio, because
  of its frequent appearance in geometry. The
  Golden Ratio of 1.61803399 has long been
  considered aesthetically pleasing in Western
  cultures, reflecting natures balance between
  symmetry and asymmetry. The Greeks used this
  Golden Ratio as a means of judging beauty.
  Paintings, sculptures, architecture, book designs
  and art use the ratio to attract the eye.
  Similarly this ratio is also used when judging
  somebodys aesthetic value, or commonly known as
  their beauty. When the Golden Ratio supplements a
  persons face or body, they are often also
  pleasing to the eye.

The Golden Ratio in a face
The Golden Ratio in architecture
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• This ancient Greek sculpture was designed with
  the Golden Ratio throughout. The following
  calculations each equal close to 1.61803399.
  consequently the face is pleasing to the eye.
• Measured in mm.
• Top of the head to the chin width of the head
• Top of the head to pupil pupil to lips
• nose tip to chin lips to chin
• nose tip to chin pupil to nose tip
• width of nose nose tip to lips
• outside distance between eyes hairline to
  pupil
• length of lips nose tips to lips

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Itkonis designed the Parthenon in 5th Century
B.C., using the Golden Ratio throughout. Further
more, this piece of architecture is famous and
very pleasing to the eye.
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Women Beauty Over Time

• By observing human sculptures and paintings
  through time, it becomes apparent that what is
  considered beauty in a women, has changed.
• This depicts that beauty can be a very
  subjective feeling. Different people will find
  different things beautiful and it is not right to
  criticize somebody's opinion of beauty. As beauty
  is in the eye of the beholder.

Ancient women beauty
Big bust and bottom
20th century women
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Ancient women beauty

• It appears that in the ancient times, beauty was
  all about proportion. When breasts, waist,
  height, etc were all proportional to one another,
  the result was a beautiful woman.

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Big Bust and Bottom

• Much further on, in the 17th century was when
  the figure of a beautiful women was no longer in
  proportion. The bust and bottoms were larger
  compared to the rest of the body, and that was
  then the beautiful woman. The women went to
  dangerous measures to achieve this beauty and
  wore corsets which restricted their waists and
  deformed many bodily functions. By wearing a
  corset over 2 years they could go from having a
  22 inch waist to a hand span sized waist.

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20th Century Women

• In the 20th century was when beauty
  continually changed. Beauty ranged from a big
  bust and bottom to a flat boyish figure, and then
  to voluptuousness. All shapes and sizes were
  viewed as beautiful at one stage or another.

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Beauty Today

• I believe beauty today is seen as very
  subjective. Ask anyone and their idea of beauty
  would most certainly be different to somebody
  else's. However, today through media, our most
  influential source, a new type of beauty is
  portrayed. It is almost a child like beauty. A
  thin body, young face, no bodily hair and
  flawless skin is presently perceived as
  beautiful. Further more, the face perceived as
  beautiful has stayed the same over time and has
  not changed like body shapes have. Even with this
  type of beauty being portrayed many people still
  have their own opinions and do not agree with
  this ideal.

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Conclusion

• I believe beauty is subjective and many factors
  contribute to how something is viewed. Peoples
  backgrounds, will greatly contribute to what they
  believe as beautiful. However, I do think that
  the Greeks mathematical means of beauty is used
  today without us being aware. Our eyes are still
  attracted the Golden Ratio. We define these
  things as beautiful, sometimes without
  reason.just because. Possibly because many of
  us are not capable of the mathematics required to
  apply the Greeks method. It is just instinctly
  viewed as beautiful.

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Bibliography

• Thomas, Pauline (2007) Fashion Era online
  availiable from internet
• www.fashion-era.com
• Wahl, Mark (2007) A Golden Ratio Activity
  online availiable from internet
  http//www.markwahl.com/golden-ratio.htm
• Think Quest (2007) online availiable from
  internet http//library.thinkquest.org/C005449/gr
  eeks.html
• Wikipedia (2007) Aesthetics online,
  availiable form internet http//en.wikipedia.
  org/wiki/Aesthetics

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