George Santayana the Sense of Beauty (Being the Outline of Aesthetic Theory) 2010
Theory of Beauty
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Transcript of Theory of Beauty
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
History of the Science of BeautyTan Kok Hong . Lim Kia Mian . Wong RuiXiong
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Defining Beautywhat is beauty? what are the theories of beauty?
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THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
DEFINITION OF BEAUTY
WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF BEAUTY?
“No particular definition”
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
DEFINITION OF BEAUTYDefinitions for reference
• Beauty (according to Oxford Dictionary)
Excelling in grace of form, charm of colouring, and other qualities, which delight the eye and call forth admiration:
a) of the human face and figureb) of other objects
• Beauty is a basic pleasure
• Beauty can be something intrinsic to object (color, form, and other qualities )or simply the pleasure an object evokes
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
FROM ANCIENT TIMES
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
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FROM ANCIENT TIMES
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
“Properties of beauty are the same, whether we are seeing a beautiful woman,
flower, landscape or circle.”
FROM ANCIENT TO CONTEMPORARY
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Golden Ratiowhat is the golden proportion? why is it significant?
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THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
GOLDEN RATIO• Ratio of the sum of the quantities to
the larger quantity is equal to the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller one
• Ancient Greek mathematicians first studied it because of its frequent appearance in geometry
• Irrational mathematical constant,
• approximately 1.6180
• “Extreme and mean ratio" was the principal term used from the 3rd century BC until about the 18th century.
• Denoted by the Greek lowercase letter phi
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
GOLDEN RATIO
“VISUAL DEFINITION”
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
• Golden rectangle: side lengths are in golden ratio
• When a square section is removed, we find another golden rectangle. This pattern can be repeated infinitely.
• Corresponding corners of the squares form an infinite sequence of points on the golden spiral, the unique logarithmic spiral with this property.
GOLDEN RATIO
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THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
GOLDEN RATIO: A History
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
GOLDEN RATIO: A History
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
GOLDEN RATIO: Architecture
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
GOLDEN RATIO: Art and Nature
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Middle Ages and
Renaissance
Fits in with the idea of
perfection and
harmonyoverabundance of mystical
thinking, speculation and fiction
GOLDEN RATIO: Analysis
Food for Thought:Why did ancient philosophers and so many others support this idea? Is the Golden perfection real?
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
GOLDEN RATIO: Analysis
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
GOLDEN RATIO: Analysis
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Lack of academic sources
Influence from the ancient Greeks and Renaissance period
Idea that the Golden Ratio was used in designing ancient
architecture dubious
Interesting mathematical
concepts
Unique aesthetic properties
GOLDEN RATIO: Analysis & Summary
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Symmetrysymmetry as beauty? why is symmetry beautiful?
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THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
SYMMETRY BY GREEKS AND ROMANS
Parthenon of Acropolis (Ancient Greece)
Pantheon of Rome (Roman Empire)
Trevi Fountain (Renaissance)Victorian-style pillars
• Symmetry is the foundation for numerous Greek and Roman architecture, continuing into the Renaissance
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
SYMMETRY: FACIAL SYMMETRY
96%
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
SIR FRANCIS GALTON
Sir Francis Galton (1811-1911)• half-cousin of Charles’ Darwin• Polymath, numerous contributions
to many scientific fields such asmeteorology, psychology, criminology
1876 - 1900: Composite Photography • projecting face photographs of many different
individuals onto a single piece of photographic film
• Galton’s colleagues noted that composites tended to be more attractive than the individual faces
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
COMPOSITE PHOTOGRAPHY
Case for Eugenics• Eugenics: Nature NOT
Nurture determines a person’s eventual character and personality
• Identification of “typical criminal faces”
Led to further studies of facial averageness!
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Study of Facial Averageness
• Numerous studies were conducted throughout the century BUT with advent of technology, greatly improved the studies
– 1886: Stoddard
– 1990: Psychologists Langlois and Roggman
– 2005: Imaging Researcher Pierre Tourigny
• Computer algorithms revealed that symmetry plays a big role in human faces
FACIAL AVERAGENESS
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
FACIAL AVERAGENESS
Caucasian males
Female celebrities
Caucasian females
Caucasian females
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
FACIAL AVERAGENESS
Composite of 60 faces
consistently over 90%
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
(1) symmetric individuals are attractive because they are particularly
healthy(2) averageness reflects
optimal design of physical traits by
nature
DIFFERING INTEPRETATIONS
human visual system favours processing
symmetric than asymmetric stimuli
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Biological advances
and knowledge
Greek, Roman and Renaissance developmen
ts in architecture
Symmetry: Analysis
Technological innovations
(photography, computer
algorithms)
study of non-
scientific fields
(eugenics)
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
LIMITATIONS OF EXPLANATION
still
beautiful?
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Proportionsproportion as beauty? what proportions are significant?
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THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
92%
PROPORTIONALITY
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
• Studying of proportions really took off during the Renaissance
• Renaissance: the focus is back on HUMANS, THE HUMAN BODY
• Focus on aesthetics brought about numerous developments in the study of proportions that define humans
PROPORTIONALITY
“What do we identify visually
as human?”
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANS
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
MICHELANGELO
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
LEONARDO DA VINCI
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
FACIAL PROPORTIONALITY
Renaissance Period• Leonardo Da Vinci and
Michelangelo did extensive studies concerning the proportions of human face
• Formed the basis of aesthetic knowledge on human faces
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
BODY PROPORTIONALITY
Renaissance period
• Ideal height as having a head to body ratio of 1:8
• V-shaped torso
Recent research
• Men: a waist-to-shoulder ratio of 0.75 or lower are viewed as considerably more attractive
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Proportionality
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
BEAUTIFICATIONMarquardt Beauty Mask• Dr. Stephen R. Marquardt• Retired oral and maxillofacial surgeon• Based on decagon structures
Female Mask Male Mask Side Profile
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
BEAUTY MASK
Marilyn MonroeDavid BeckhamMegan FoxAngelina Jolie
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Artistic developmen
ts of Renaissance
Man
Renaissance focus on
Humans as SPECIAL
CREATION of God
Proportion: Analysis
New Anatomical studies
Architecture and
Aestheticspropelling Humanistic
studies
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Evolutionary Beautywhat is the impact of evolution on beauty?
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THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
• For nearly 2000 years, philosophers, artists and scientists have tried to explain beauty using mathematics.
WHY?
Darwinian Theory of Beauty
• Mathematical idea fits in a general way with platonic or religious ideas about origin of the world
• BUT, Measurement systems have failed to turn up a beauty formula!
• Another example how ideas of ancient philosophers have misguided later generations
• Darwin’s evolution theory led to paradigm shift from an emphasis on mathematics to biology
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Darwin: Evolution of Beauty
1) Natural Selection
• Evolution or co-evolution of peculiar features give advantage to an organism, increasing chance of survival and reproduction
2) Sexual Selection
• Some physical qualities lure the other sex
e.g. Peacock’s tail that not only doesn’t helpwith but impedes survivability
• Beauty is important in arousing and sustaining interest or even obsession to allow people to make decisions to enhance survival or reproduction
EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
• Beauty is nature’s way of acting at a distance
• Evolution’s trick is to make things beautiful, to make them exert a magnetism, and give one pleasuresimply by looking at them
• The experience of beauty is a component of a series of Darwinian adaptations
• Universality of our artistic and aesthetic taste can be explained by Darwinian theory of beauty
DARWINIAN APPROACH TO BEAUTY
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
UNIVERSALITY OF BEAUTY
“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder?”
How about culture and media
influences?
Is beauty a universal concept?
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
ACROSS AGE
• Even 3 month old infants prefer to gaze at faces that adults find beautiful, including faces from races they have not seen before
• 7 year olds, 12 year olds, 17 year olds and adults do not differ significantly in their ratings of attractiveness of faces of children and adults
UNIVERSALITY OF BEAUTY
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
ACROSS CULTURE
• Jones and Hill asked people from 5 cultures to rate a multiracial, multicultural set of faces– 2 isolated tribes, Hiwi
and Ache Indians– Russian– Brazil– United States
UNIVERSALITY OF BEAUTY
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
• People tend to agree which faces are beautiful and find similar features attractive across ethnically diverse faces
• All attracted to similar geometric proportions in the face
• Female faces with small lower faces (delicate jaws and relatively small chins) and eyes that were large in relation to the length of the face are preferred
UNIVERSALITY OF BEAUTY
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY• Underlying universal mechanisms are responsible for beauty
• Beauty is an engineered manifestation
• Perception of beauty features may be governed by circuits shaped by natural selection in the human brain
UNIVERSALITY OF BEAUTY
“Is beauty a universal concept?”
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY• But people still seem to be largely agreeable and consistent in ratings of beauty
• People quote culture as being important BUT it still requires a basic premise that coheres with human intrinsic preferences of beauty and instinct
UNIVERSALITY OF BEAUTY
“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder?”
“How about culture and media influences?”
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
Conclusionthoughts on the history and theories of beauty
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THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
• For thousands of years, philosophers, mathematicians and artists have tried to explain beauty using the language of mathematics but focus has been on details and intricacies
• Darwin’s evolution theory provides a big picture: Experience of beauty, with its emotional intensity and pleasure, belongs to our evolved human psychology
• Darwinian approach can be used to explain the universality and functionality of beauty
• The answer to questions pertaining to beauty may lie in cognitive neuroscience and biology
CONCLUSION
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
History of the Science of BeautyTan Kok Hong . Lim Kia Mian . Wong RuiXiong