Transcript Definitions Of Beauty

1044班 储逸琼
郭晓雯
What did socrates say about beauty?
In the earliest times, it was Socrates that first explored
the definition of beauty, he felt that aesthetics(美学) was
a form of purity. Things that are pure withing themselves
evokes pleasure, thus beauty. Socrates' idea can be
considered as a form of beauty.
...if there is anything beautiful other than absolute beauty, that can
only be beautiful as far as it partakes(参与，分享) of absolute
beauty--and this I should say of everything. ...by beauty all things
become beautiful. ...by greatness only great things become great and
greater and greater, and by smallness the less becomes less.
Beauty and Ugliness - Definitions Of Beauty
• In the Greater Hippias, Plato (c. 428–348 or 347 B.C.E.)
ascribes to Socrates the viewpoint that knowledge of
beauty is a prerequisite for actual applications: one cannot
properly distinguish between beautiful and ugly objects
without
knowing what beauty is. On the other
hand, in the
Symposium, Plato has Diotima argue
that knowledge of beauty begins with direct experience of
particular cases and knowledge of the abstract form of
beauty is the highest and final stage, distilled from
everyday experience.
• Direct experience, Socrates claims, is unreliable. It reveals a
complex of contradicting qualities that cohabit in the same
object: any beautiful object is at the same time not
beautiful when
compared with a higher beauty.
Appearance can
be misleading. A person may appear
beautiful when wearing suitable clothes, although he is not
truly beautiful. Socrates in fact dismisses all expressions of
physical beauty as untrustworthy.
Beauty and Ugliness - Definitions Of Beauty
• The ultimate beauty that contains no contradicting elements is
beyond earthly experience. Plato portrays such absolute beauty in
the Phaedo, where Socrates sees its heavenly form. Socrates rejects
further the idea that beauty is that which functions properly: an
object may function well, but if its purpose is evil, the object is not
beautiful. He also disagrees that beauty should be defined as a
cause of delight. The good, Socrates argues, also causes delight,
and the two should be kept distinct.
• Socrates concludes in the Greater Hippias that beauty is difficult to
define. Voltaire (1694–1778) goes further to argue that beauty,
due to its relativist nature, is not just difficult but impossible to
define. In his Philosophical Dictionary (1764) Voltaire writes that
the toad sees beauty in large round eyes and a flat snout, and the
devil sees beauty in a pair of horns and four claws. Epicharmus (c.
530–c. 440 B.C.E.), the comic dramatist, similarly remarks that a
dog considers a dog the most beautiful creature, and equally an ox
prefers an ox, a donkey a donkey, and a pig a pig. Realizing that
beauty has no common core, Voltaire believes that one had better
save oneself the trouble of attempting to study its nature.
Beauty and Ugliness - Definitions Of Beauty
• Neither the difficulties presented by Socrates nor Voltaire's
reservations have discouraged philosophers, artists, critics, and
scientists from reflecting upon the nature of beauty throughout
the centuries.
Attempts to define beauty can be
divided into two main groups: theories that regard beauty as a
form of order and theories that regard beauty as a kind of
pleasure. Theories of beauty may be divided further according to
the logical status assigned to beauty: objective, subjective,
relative, and relational. The objective approach asserts that
beauty inheres in the object, and that judgments of beauty
have objective validity. The subjective approach maintains that
beauty is not a quality of the
object but rather a creation
of the mind. Relativism tends
to associate beauty with
cultural values, and the relational approach regards beauty as a
product of both the object and the contemplative mind.
关于苏格拉底眼中的美，可以从大量有关他的对话录中体会出来。
首先，苏格拉底认为，美是相对的，没有绝对的美也没有绝对的丑。如：
色诺芬著的《回忆苏格拉底》中他的话“……对它们所适合的东西来说，
都是既美而又好的，而对于它们所不适合的东西，则是既丑而又不好的。”
也举了粪筐与金盾牌的例子，不同的事物，由于各自的用处不同，因而，
当面临同一种需要时便可以分辨出两种事物的美丑；而引用他的一句“同
一事物是既美而又丑的”以及他在谈论中对粪筐的认同和对金盾牌的质疑
态度，我们可以理解为：金盾牌相比普通战场上的盾牌，外表美，但就其
功用来说，金盾牌便成为不适合的东西就是丑的事物了；
其次，苏格拉底认为，美在于秩序与和谐。引用色诺芬《经济论》中苏格
拉底的话“无论什么东西，只要安放整齐，都能有一种美”秩序产生和谐，
和谐便是美；
再次，他以绝对的态度来阐述他的“功用说”与美的关系，“有用的东西，
对于它所有用的任何事来说，就是美的”这个观点涵盖了第一个观点，进
一步阐述美的相对性，也把“功用说”放到事物中作为评价事物美与丑的标
准；
最后，极为推崇农业生产的苏格拉底认为，人应该发挥其功用热爱劳动才
能使其变美。他认为农业生产能“锻炼出最好的公民和最忠实于社会的人”，
且认为农业生产另一作用是“能在最大程度上使身体健美”，可以认为这个
观点的提出是由他当时的社会身份决定的，但同时更能体现他对人的评价
不在于外表而在于内在，在于人是否发挥了他的功用。
What was his theory?
Socrates explains that the theory which he regards
as most certain, as least vulnerable to attack, is none
other than the Theory of Forms. This is the theory that
there exist as real entities such things as Beauty in
itself, Goodness in itself, and Largeness in itself.
Socrates hopes that his Theory of Forms will help
explain causation, and ultimately give a proof for the
immortality of the soul that will satisfy even Cebes.
Socrates posits Forms as the true reasons for things
being as they are. For instance, something is beautiful
because it participates in the Form of Beauty, and for
no other reason. While others might try to explain the
beauty of an object in terms of its color or shape,
Socrates suggests that ultimately, the simplest and
best explanation is given by the Theory of Forms.
Theory of Forms
The only true being is founded upon the forms,
the eternal, unchangeable, perfect types, of
which particular objects of sense are imperfect
copies.
The multitude of objects of sense, being
involved in perpetual change,are thereby
deprived of all genuine existence.
Socrates’ Sayings
Beauty is a short-lived tyranny. 美貌是短暂的暴政。（Tyranny 意指别人愿意臣服
于一个人的美貌，致使这个人成为tyrant，而这种tyranny毕竟是short-lived （短暂的
）因为外表的美丽是会随着年龄而消逝的。）
Beauty is the bait（诱饵） which with delight allures （诱惑）man to enlarge his
kind.
Give me beauty in the inward soul; may the outward and the inward man be at
one.
I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within.
When desire, having rejected reason and overpowered judgment which leads to
right, is set in the direction of the pleasure which beauty can inspire, and when
again under the influence of its kindred desires it is moved with violent motion
towards the beauty of corporeal forms, it acquires a surname from this very violent
motion, and is called love.
By means of beauty all beautiful things become beautiful.
For this appears to me the safest answer to give both to myself and others; and
adhering to this, I think that I shall never fall, but that it is a safe answer both for
me and any one else to give — that by means of beauty beautiful things become
Classical Aesthetics(古典美学)
Aesthetics refers to beauty in an object. The Greek
philosophers Plato and Socrates were the first at aattempting to
define beauty. They thought of objects or nature as being
inherently beautiful: beauty is inside an object. In all attempt to
define characteristics of a beautiful thing they focused on
simplicity and symmetry. Beauty is percieved through sight and
hearing. Beauty is not relative, objects cannot be compared with
one another. The beauty within an object is its pure and ideal
beauty. This definition restricted objects that could be beautiful,
such as paintings, tragedies and comedies, and living creatures.
Beauty is excellent, perfect, and satisfying. The concrete and
simple Greek concept of beauty was enlarged by Plotinus. He
rejected beauty as being merely a formal property. He describes
beauty as not just symmetry, but rather as a quality that
"irradiates" and moves us. Throughout the 16th and 17th
centuries, beauty was an object property which could be defined
by rules. A person’s response to beauty could be described as
"pleasure" but the observer’s reaction did not define what was
considered beautiful.
Socrates was an integrated, essentially unambivalent
individual. He stood clearly for some values and clearly
against others. He had high respect for justice, integrity,
courage, temperance, decency, beauty and balance. He
disrespected excess, crass materialism, cutthroat
competition for money, power and prestige. His guiding
motto was "Know thyself".
Socrates believed the true self is not the body, but the
soul (or psyche). He believed that the appearance of the
body is less important than how well it functions. True
beauty is inner beauty, beauty of spirit and character.
Happiness, like goodness, is a matter of inner qualities. He
preferred a good and beautiful soul to a pleasing body that
housed a lesser self. Socrates believed the psyche is the
essence of happiness. His concept of the psyche was a
combination of what we think of as mind and soul. The soul
is the conscious self, intellectual and moral personhood.