Beauty and function

This thesis asks 'what is beauty?' and proceeds to look at two ways of answering the question. Firstly, it critiques the 'quality approach' toward understanding beauty. This approach defines beauty as a quality of an object. In doing so it tries to secure the essence of the term 'beauty'. Using the techniques of analytic philosophy, it attempts to circumscribe the definitional criteria that will validate the use of the word beauty in referring to a particular quality of an object, allowing us to identify the quality of beauty. This approach is found to be ineffective by this thesis. Using a Wittgensteinean analysis of 'family resemblance', it shows that there cannot be one quality of an object that can be considered its essence in regards to its 'beauty'. Rather, there is a family of resemblance of characteristics amongst objects that are commonly considered beautiful that allow us to call them all 'beautiful'. The thesis then formulates a positive argument concerning the function beauty maintains in people's lives. It shows how beauty can be considered a locus of human interaction and behaviour. People require objects and surround themselves with them. They desire these objects, and use them to create the conditions through which they may interact socially - a mechanism dubbed world-creation. A reason for such behaviour is the pleasure gained in relation to beauty that is a common trait of human beings. Such behaviour is grounded by the psychological mechanisms of sublimated desire and visual projection. We also see that certain structural arrangements apparent in the object make it more conducive to being seen as beautiful. This thesis looks at the structural arrangements of form, colour, accuracy, and also the context in which the object is situated. All four factors contribute greatly to the perceived beauty of the object. In conclusion the thesis finds that beauty is not a quality of an object. Rather it is a locus for human interaction that is psychologically projected and structurally conditioned by the object