Beauty: a very short introduction

Abstract

We discern beauty in concrete objects and abstract ideas, in works of nature and works of art, in things, animals and people, in objects, qualities and actions. As the list expands to take in just about every ontological category, it becomes obvious that we are not describing a property like shape, size or colour, uncontroversially present to all who can find their way around the physical world. ‘Judging beauty’ examines a variety of philosophical approaches to beauty, its status, perception and definition, asserting, with Kant, that the experience of beauty, like the judgement in which it issues, is the prerogative of rational beings.