Plato 's Declaration Of Beauty

know the feeling one can have when one hears a beautiful song that brings joy to ones heart, stand in a field of flowers that excites ones eyes, or admire a face that is visually pleasing. The controversial issue that surrounds beauty is that some believe that true beauty is defined by someone’s outer appearance, while others believe it is something that is experiences through a person’s character. Beauty is defined as the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the sense or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit. The secret of beauty has been a quest of humans for centuries. It has been determined that women and some men spend up to one third of their income on products and procedures that enhance their looks. People spend way too much time looking in the mirror, scrutinizing, worrying, fretting, and wishing people could change something about themselves. People dream of looking like the girl at work because she has great hair, or the girl people meet at a party because she is skinny, with the perfect nose. This happens because people are constantly on social media. A pretty face is not a complete definition of beauty, nor is the quality of one being kind and compassionate. To contain beauty, someone or something does not have to be physically beautiful. Beauty is everywhere. Take a simple flower.

This leads to the individual being in a more of a harmony within themselves, and that beauty equates to the meaning of life, to where one may feel the well being of the world around them and in the individual. “Beauty was a much a feeling of harmony as it was visual.” (Silko, pg 65). Expressed by Silko, beauty wasn’t a status like in the so called “Western World”. Stated by Silko, “because the point of the procedure isn’t just cosmetic, it is social.” (Silko, pg 65). Instead, there is more of a deeper meaning, where beauty is more like a flower that is blooming and it is wonderful within each and every individual that is either alive or born in the community of the Laguna. “faces and bodies could not be separated from the hearts and souls.” (Silko, pg 65). As Silko illustrated, the beauty is like a seed. when it is nurtured to the point of it blooming into a sprout or a single leaf, this is the point where one’s own individuality and harmony with the surrounding is at peace. In addition, the person would find their center in their everyday life, which leads them to find joy in the activities that they always

To understand Plato’s argument, he gives us an interesting theory, his theory of forms. If we take the example of a beautiful person, not only does Plato say that there is the form of beauty and there is the beautiful person, but he also seems to say that there is the beauty present in that person which is distinct both from the person and from the form. (Lecture from 11/27). This beauty can come and go, and must, either withdraw or disappear at the approach of ugliness.

The concept of beauty is shown to be highly valued in the story and the society that the story is set in. For example, Beauty chooses to marry the third and final man because he is a handsome scholar. Beauty is tricked into being pushed down a well because of beauty. “’Sister, come and look into the well. We will see which of us is the more beautiful’” (Lin Lan 129). They do not compare who is most skillful or who is the most intelligent; they value beauty so much that the concept is the only thing they decide to be compared on. The scholar, Beauty’s husband, is shown to also cherish beauty. He is horrified to see Pock Face instead of his beautiful wife and reacts very dramatically. “’Goodness! How changed you are! Surely you are not Beauty. My wife was never such a monster. Good Heavens!’” (Lin Lan 129). These examples serve as indicators of how much the characters, and therefore the story, are so intensely focused on the concept of physical

Their aspect of beauty is called “Antiquity” which is the combination of kalos, which is beautiful, and agathos, which is honest and virtuous. Concluding only people who are honest and handsome are considered attractive. While, the Christians put the emphasis on inner beauty, the beauty of the soul and its virtues. Physical beauty has negative connotation with “vanity, lust, and corruption of the flesh (Dürrigl, 209)”, according to Dürrigl, “The more beautiful someone was, the greater danger there was for them losing their souls (209).” Furthermore in Medieval Times, the concept of beauty was dominated by certain philosophical-theological ideas on the relationship of the body with the soul.

Kant argues that beauty is symbolic of morality. Werner S. Pluhar states, “Only man is capable of an ideal of beauty, and the ideal involves the concept of man’s

Alcibiades pursues Socrates so that Socrates can nurture him to be the “best man” he can be (Plato, 218d). But Alcibiades can only offer Socrates his physical appearance in exchange for Socrates’ knowledge, to which Socrates pointed out that it was not a fair trade as Alcibiades wanted “gold in exchange for bronze” (Plato, 218e). Next, Alcibiades claims that he can see the Beauty in Socrates, describing him as “so godlike – so bright and beautiful, so utterly amazing” (Plato, 217a). But Socrates pointed out that if Alcibiades can see in Socrates “a beauty that is really beyond description”, it makes Alcibiades’ “remarkable good looks pale in comparison” (Plato, 218d). At that point of time when Alcibiades made the offer, he does not have self-awareness. What Alcibiades saw in Socrates is the ability to make himself better, not the divine Beauty itself. Here again it shows that Alcibiades did not learn from Socrates nor is he ascending towards the beautiful because his desire takes precedent over his love for

For humans, procreation is how immortality can be possible, making it the second goal of love. In this realm, love is now a creator from its role of being a seeker as aforementioned in the prior paragraph. It is emphasized that this procreation is not only for offspring but of artistic words and ideas. Diotima’s interpretation of love flows from erotic love Poptsova 4 from one person to abstract love which leads to the appreciation of physical beauty.

Instead of simply dividing love into forms based on the deity that instigates the phenomenon, Diotima discussed love in terms of the desired goal, either acquisitive or procreative. Acquisitive love centers solely on the desire or “wanting to possess the good” or beautiful forever (Sym 206A 12). On the other hand, procreative love centers on the desire to give “birth in beauty, whether in body or soul” (Sym. 206B 9-10). Diotima identified this type of desire as the true purpose of love and went on to explain that “reproduction...is an immortal thing for a mortal animal to do, and it cannot occur in anything that is out of harmony” (Sym. 206C 8-9); because ugliness is out of harmony with the divine, she concluded that being pregnant in body and the production of offspring can only occur in beauty.

In Plato’s Symposium, Agathon, Aristophanes and Diotima discuss the goodness and purpose of love. The men are gathered at a drinking party hosted by Agathon and begin their accounts on love. Aristophanes praises love and discusses the origin of desire while Agathon discusses the nature of love and that to which it is attracted. However, Socrates conception of love, as narrated by Diotima, questions the origins of love and what Love is himself. During her speech Diotima refines the various theories of love as discussed at the party and concludes that we grow in our conception of love to closer characterise the beauty and goodness of it.

Using explicit logical transitions such as “begin” (47), “next”, “once”, “after”, “as a result”, and “at last” (48), Diotima eventually leads to the highest form of love in a comprehensible and progressive way. The word “begin” marks the start point of this process, which is loving beautiful bodies (47). The phrase “as a result” acts as a turning point in the logical sequence where people will start to observe beauty in practices (48). Before that phrase, Diotima illustrates the process of reaching the best interpersonal love inside the broader perspective of approaching the highest form of love. After that phrase, Diotima moves from interpersonal love to philosophical love, which is also the shifting from common love to heavenly love.

Beauty is found in architecture. Buildings such as churches can be seen as beautiful because it can “induce a dread concomitant with an all-powerful deity”, or just the designs of the walls, windows or exterior can create an opinion of beauty towards churches (Newman, 3). In society “beauty [is found] in...everyday life” from supermodels today to the actors and actresses of the past, beauty is found everywhere in society (Lorand, 1). In the past, most beauty was natural considering the past did not have the internet. For that reason, the beautiful people of the past were actors and actresses.

The paper starts with multiple definitions of what beauty is defined as and moves to what the experience of beauty is.

We only call a certain category of those in love, lovers (Symposium 7) and in contrast with what Aristophanes had said about lovers being in search of their other half, Diotima argues that lovers love what is good. After all, the aim of loving beautiful and good things, of course, is to possess them, because the possession of beautiful and good things is wisdom and with wisdom comes happiness and happiness is deep-down what everyone is ultimately in pursuit of.

Throughout The Republic by Plato, the character of Socrates touches on many theories and ideas. One of the main ideas that carries all throughout the text, is the concept of beauty. Socrates comes up with specific rules on how beauty should be executed. Specifically concerning the type of music one may hear, the feelings one may share and how beauty is defined.