Beauty is a concept that has been recognized as an important value in various cultures and periods of history. However, it is not always easy to determine the exact definition of beauty. It is a matter of individual opinion, culture and perception.
Some people consider beauty to be something that is natural, while others prefer to define it by standards and norms. Regardless of how you choose to define it, there are certain things that will always be considered beautiful.
Physical appearance is one of the first things people notice about another person. It is important to note that while physical looks do contribute to overall appearance, they are only a small part of what makes a person attractive. Attractive people are often more successful in life, have a better social standing, and are generally seen as more intelligent than less attractive people.
The opposite of beauty is ugliness. It is not desirable to have a hunchback or have your hair grow in a different direction. It is also not desirable to have too much body fat, or too little. In general, beauty is more about the personality and character of a person than their physical appearance.
Beauty can be found in nature, or in the work of art.
In his essay ‘Beauty and its Uses’, Friedrich Schiller defines beauty as “the art of rendering compatible the natural and the spiritual in things that are free on both levels” (Schiller 19). It performs this integration by combining the sensuous and the rational.
Until the eighteenth century, most philosophical accounts of beauty treated it as an objective quality: they located it in the beautiful object itself or in its qualities. They tended to connect it to the pleasure it evokes, but sometimes they connected it with love or desire as well.
Some ancient treatments of beauty, especially those in Plato’s Symposium and Plotinus’s Enneads, were quite ecstatic, focusing on the experience of wonderment and delight. These treatments, though they were not the only ones to do so, provided a good basis for thinking about the relationship between aesthetic experience and pleasure.
This approach to the question of what constitutes beauty has been influential in art and philosophy since the nineteenth century, although some critics have argued that the concept was trivialized by its association with pleasure. The twentieth century, however, has rediscovered the importance of beauty as an artistic goal.
Many artists have chosen to ignore traditional beauty norms in order to create their own unique works of art. Examples include Picasso, Munch and Schoenberg.
A person’s natural beauty is a result of genetics and hormones. This is why people who have fair skin and light hair are generally more attractive than those with dark complexions. This is also why people who have darker skin are more likely to have dark eye circles or wrinkles.
The same applies to those with facial blemishes or a pronounced nose. They are usually not as attractive as those who have perfect skin and clear eyes.