Commentary

Dennis Dutton - what is beauty?

Dennis' job is to understand the experience of beauty. What is beauty? Is it in the culturally conditioned eye of the beholder? No, natural beauty transcends cultures, and man-made beauty usually translates into all cultures. The most powerful theory to explain beauty is delivered by Charles Darwin: Beauty is is one of the ways of evolution to evoke and sustain interest in order to ensure successful procreation. Beauty increases desirability and with that the possibility of procreation, beauty causes pleasure. The ability to create beauty may also help achieve that. Symmetry. Something done perfectly. Pleasure. Beauty is universal, it's in the human mind.
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