preview

Is Beauty Purely Subjective Or Objective?

Good Essays

Is beauty purely subjective or objective? Is it only white or black with no shades of gray? Both philosophers I am going to discuss would say yes, albeit on opposite ends of the spectrum. Ducasse defines beauty as “the capacity of an object aesthetically contemplated to yield feelings that are pleasant” (Ducasse, 1966). In summary, he means this to say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Frankly, this is a hard stance to counter because all it says is that if one thinks something is beautiful, then it is beautiful to them. Something one may find beautiful may not be beautiful to someone else. According to Ducasse, this is because we all have different experiences and backgrounds that constitute who we are. The way an object is viewed can be predisposed by one’s constitution. (Ducasse, 1966). Due to the difference in constitution, Ducasse believes that beauty cannot be objective, nor can arguments concerning the beauty of an object be valid if there are no set standards of beauty (Ducasse, 1966).
As per Ducasse, even if the majority sees beauty in an object, there is still no evidence that the object is objectively beautiful. Many objects have been considered beautiful throughout the decades and centuries; however, this does not make the object a thing of objective beauty (Ducasse, 1966). Similarly, one type of person does not have more pull or a more valuable opinion when speaking of beauty, even if they are considered an expert (Ducasse, 1966). There are those who

Get Access