Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Perhaps there will be interest in a conversation
> about the beautiful and wholesome in fantastic
> literature.
>
> I begin by making a distinction between the
> beautiful and that which is a matter of taste.
>
> The former is something that should be recognized,
> so that, in the person who does not recognize it,
> defect of attention or of sensitivity may be
> assumed. Thus, the wind-tossed daffodils growing
> by the lake, in Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered
> Lonely as a Cloud,†are beautiful; the failure
> to perceive their beauty would demonstrate defect
> in the observer.
>
> Conversely, taste or appreciative sensitivity
> allows for variations of preference as regards
> good things. Sally likes the music of Ralph
> Vaughan Williams more than that of Mozart, while
> Joe prefers Mozart to RVW, but Sally and Joe can
> perceive merit in the music liked by the other
> person. It would be silly to quarrel about it.
>
> Rather than beauty, it is taste that is basically
> subjective. It is awkward to refer to
> “taste†and the “eye†of the beholder
> together, but if the mixed metaphor may be
> permitted, we could say that taste (not beauty) is
> in the eye of the beholder.
I don't actually want to get into a discussion about beautiful humans -- but I did want to nudge this thread into further visibility.
[
www.newscientist.com]
[
www.discovermagazine.com]
All I'd like everyone to take from the above amusing articles is the suggestion that the beautiful is something real, not just social conditioning, "eye of the beholder" etc. Again, though, I think there's probably a discussion to be had that we could take further relating to the beautiful in the writings of sf, fantasy, etc.