Chit Chat Philosophy

2 If I may be so bold as to ask, what is beauty?

1 Beauty is when we take appreciation one level deeper. Anything that can be appreciated can be elevated to beautiful, if our emotion towards it is strong enough.

2 Can you clarify for me, what is appreciation?

1 Appreciation is an unconditional kind of respect.

2 Is there a specific emotion that must be correlated for appreciation to turn into beauty?

1 I would say no. People find beauty in all kinds of basal emotions.

2 So to clarify, beauty can occur when we have respect or appreciation for something coupled with a strong emotion?

1 Yes.

2 If you see something beautiful, will everyone share that opinion?

1 No, definitely not. For what I believe to be beautiful, others may find off-putting or ugly.

2 How can that be?

1 As they say, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Each of us makes our own definition for what is beautiful and what is not. Put another way, others may not feel the same kind of emotion or respect as I do towards the subject matter.

2 Would you then say that nothing is universally beautiful?

1 Ah but that is a wholly separate question. Allow me to say it thusly: no. Nothing is universally beautiful. I do believe some things are more likely to evoke emotion and respect than others, but they are not guaranteed to be interpreted as such.

2 Suppose you have just watched something which was “so bad, it’s good”.

1 Go on.

2 How can something awful command the appreciation needed for beauty?

1 I see your point, though I don’t believe it is a problem. I can appreciate mediocrity provided it still evokes the right emotion.

2 So you would say then the appreciation is because it has the ability to evoke emotion?

1 That’s right.

2 Can something be appreciated and evocative, yet forego the title of beautiful?

1 I believe so. Suppose there is a kind of music that you find particularly grating. You may respect the process that went into creating it and you may feel strongly (that it is annoying), yet it is not beautiful.

2 So the specific emotion you feel must be defined in a certain way for something to be beautiful?

1 I don’t think that’s quite right. For it is possible some people may find annoying music to be beautiful. I am not the one to say either way. I hold to my earlier definition that something respected and evocative can be considered beautiful.

2 Can something without respect still be beautiful?

1 I do not believe so.

2 So my friend, what is your conclusion?

1 Beauty is an attribute we can assign to anything that commands respect and evokes emotion.