It is beautiful

Beauty is normally defined as the ideal representation of a thing; however, I do not believe that this is completely true. When I consider something beautiful, certain characteristics need to be present in the thing at hand. These things surpass merely physical characteristics. Beauty can be found in a variety of things, such as a person, a piece of art, or even something more curious, like some sort of food. For me, one thing that I can consider to be beautiful is a person, and more specifically, my younger brother Matthew.
Matthew is eleven years old and I have a great admiration for him, even though he is younger than me. As long as I can remember, he has tried to be exactly like me. Although he is an adorable child, this is not why I consider him beautiful. He is beautiful on many different levels. First, Matthew, for his age is very intelligent. This one attribute provides me with satisfaction, and therefore I can consider him beautiful because of this. On a normal day, he would incessantly ask me bizzare questions that sometimes I even have difficulty answering. His inquistiveness is way beyond his physical age. Such curiousity often leads him to express himself through his imagination. This, to me, is beautiful, because he expresses himself through writing stories and drawing pictures that are truly amazing! Through this, I find beauty. Finally, I believe Matthew is beautiful because of the way he emulates me. This is probably the most important reason I think that the his beautiful. This is enough, to me, so long as I know he is attempting to strive to be like me, and in turn, I find it gratifying.

Order and Chaos

Order and chaos are concepts that express completely different meanings. The ideas have been in a constant clash for most of human history and have attempted to be explained by notably two fields: science and religion. Last week, we visited the Church of Santa Maria degli Angelica, which apparently tried to incorporate religion and science. In general, the churched seemed to show the compatibility of the two ideologies in order for humanity to accept the two as viable explanations for seemingly inexplicable phenomena, in the hopes of obtaining a greater understanding of the universe which we inhabit. This, to me, is a complete paradox, but I am partial to the church’s attempt of showing how in fact science and religion can coexist. Additionally, I feel that it also shows the secularization of the church itself over time because much of the scientific elements in the church itself were created by Galileo. Moreover, because they have used his inventions, the gradual secularization and acceptance of such ideas are simple to see. During his lifetime, Galileo was at the forefront of science, with most notably his theory of a heliocentric universe, which described the universe as having the sun as its center. In doing so, the previously accepted theory of the geocentric universe was repudiated by science. Needless to say, the church was not happy whatsoever and even excommunicated the “heretical” Galileo. His attempt can be seen as one of explaining the order and chaos of the universe. This scientific leap had the capability of leading to the answering of many questions that were previously inexplicable. Today, however, the church has accepted this and even has seemed to display this belief in the Church of Santa Maria degli Angelica.

Gotta Have It

As an intangible idea, beauty appears to be highly subjective, considering one’s perception of beauty is likely to differ from another’s. Simply put, beauty could be considered the perception of the ideal. Nevertheless, it would seem that something must be common in humanity’s understanding of beauty to lead them to have such an appreciation. Though differing, this ideal can be characterized by attraction. This attraction to something beatiful, personally, is usually fueled by something that provides meaning. This may seem general, but different things in life provide me with meaning, which in turn can be considered as ideal, and thus allow the beauty of the thing, whether it be a person, piece of art, or a two thousand year-old edifice. For beauty to be seen, I truly believe that there must be meaning present in it.

Beauty can and should be found in many forms. For example, a person’s beauty can be illustrated on several levels. One person’s beauty can be measured by intelligence while another’s can be measured their humility. Such faculties have the ability to display beauty. This then would lead me to discuss why I believe outer beauty or general attractiveness is a completely superfucial and false form of beauty. I honestly believe that outer beauty is a façade, and thus cannot display true beauty. Additionally, this misconception of beauty is ridiculous because it is merely a judgement of appearance and not character. The appearance of a person should not provide meaning; it is solely characterizes superficiality and not beauty itself. In short, so long as meaning can be found, beauty can and will be.

Three Degrees of Separation (of Art)

The Platonic concept of “Three degrees of separation” has often been used to describe the creation of art. The piece of art, which is made by an artist, thus is then an adaptation of a tangible object. Simply put, it is an imitation of something tangible or the artist’s idea of something that may not be fully understood. In turn the form of art seems to be the lowest level. The second level would then appear to be the artist themselves, who is solely responsible for creating and possibly changing the actual form and representation of the art. This level can clearly be seen as highly subjective, as the artist obtains the concept of manipulation. Then, this would necessitate the highest level, characterized by the ideal. But this begs the question, who is to say what defines an object as the ideal form.
Personally, this is the most curious point of the idea of “three degrees of separation. “ Last week, as our philosophy class searched to find beauty in a museum which was formerly the residence of aristocratic Roman family, I realized that there was probably one artist responsible for decorating the edifice. This artist manipulated idealistic views of beauty, which in turn led to art. I indeed thought that many of the mosaics were spectacular, but this feeling would obviously not be shared by all people. I came to feel that beauty is innate in many things in life. Art, on the other hand, seems to be a search for an idealistic beauty, which, in my opinion cannot be defined or reached. Additionally, to say that something is beautiful is irrational, because as I stated before, art is subjective and the feeling or emotion associated with the ideal, will and cannot be shared by all people.

The Starting Point

In Miguel de Unamuno’s Tragic Sense of Life, the reader is presented with a concept of a “starting point,” which may be understood to be the foundation of knowledge itself. This knowledge, which seems to be ascertained through merely human curiosity is then differentiated into two categories: one which is inherent among all humans through their instincts and a second form of knowledge, which is different than the former but closely related because it is essentially derived from it. The first form of knowledge simply emerges from inherent human tendencies while the other is based in human curiosity. Nevertheless, we as humans develop the latter as we experience more and subsequently form desires. Personally, I can illustrate the two forms of knowledge by relating them to my current experience, in which I am studying abroad in Rome, Italy.

By tracing the origin of knowledge to basic human instincts, we realize that our desires evolve. For me, my desire to study originates in my love of the ancient Roman culture. Initially, I was exposed to this area of study through the Latin language, in which I have been studying for nearly eight years. It is then simple to see how I can relate this to Unamuno’s idea of the “starting point.” This relation is garnered at first through me only learning Latin, thus the starting point of why I decided to study in Rome. Then, as my search for knowledge evolved from a sole curiosity into a deeper desire, I symbolically encountered this stage of progress, where innate knowledge becomes a greater yearning, and thus an eagerness to learn. Additionally, there is seemingly a contrast between knowledge and reason, in which the desire becomes practical, since we as humans must satisfy it. I did this clearly, by choosing to study Rome.

In conclusion, it would seem that logic necessitates a “starting point,” or an origin of knowledge, which grows as human curiosity expands.