What is beauty?

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Pupik

Pupik

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Okay, philosophical question. Before you respond with "Maserati Birdcage", or "Cindy Crawford", or "Mona Lisa"; I want to get some idea of why we humans find certain things to be beautiful. Why are certian things attractive? Why are we mentally, or biologically moved by the presence of certain phenomenon?

Post away...I'm expecting some interesting ideas.
 
"Its what makes the world go round." If humans, or animals, weren't attracted to things, all life wouldn't exisit. I'm not just talking about physical attractions, but there are tons of things everyone is interested in, and each person is different.... making it so that everything can "be."

Allowing different cultures to exisit, different foods to exisit, different clothes, different jobs, etc...

Its all in the mind.... and that, in many ways can not be explained, just accepted.
 
Now I do have to agree with talentless. And I'm completely shocked that this little piece of info is in Talentless brain. I fear I have not given you enough well deserved credit.

What do I find beautiful?

Falling water by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Thorn Crown Chapel By E. Fay Jones.
Cindy Crawford is beautiful and her smile is why.
Sunrise on a beach.

I have yet to see a beautiful Car.

True beauty is an emotion in the eye of the beholder. I consider a 700lb tuna beautiful. Cascading brown hair over an exposed shoulder can be breath taking. Old Faithful in Yellowstone National park.

Michaelangelo's David. Sunset on a mountain in Vermont. First tracks on a pristine slope of Snow at 7am.

And yes, the golden ratio.

AO
 
Originally posted by Der Alta


Falling water by Frank Lloyd Wright.

AO
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Now this, this is the best thing I have ever heard come out of a GTP members mouth (or computer). Good choice!

(I am an Architecter major in case you were wondering. ;) )
 
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Odd, the second version is the one I've seen the most often on the net.

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When you can admire a woman without seeing her as a sex toy, you've found beauty.
 
i agree with talentless there..

also, as far as the opposite sex goes, love can make someone appear beautiful to you when that person doesn't appear beautiful to anyone else.
 
Originally posted by Talentless beauty is the golden ratio
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This was the argument my buddies and I had over a few beers. I stipulated that we are unconsiously attracted to all things that follow the 1:1.6 ratio in some form or another, as per the Greek Golden Age of philosophy.

It's how we judge things that look good from things that look "don't appear quite right" in short.
 
So why do we find the 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport beautiful?

Well, its beauty is only for the select few. It's things like this that set us beauty-lovers apart from the rest of the world.
 
deleted.

At least post a real Maserati Birdcage...

Der Alta, don't post a birdcage.
 
Originally posted by pupik
M5Power, I'm going to have to charge you with going way of topic in a semi-serious discussion.

At least post a real Maserati Birdcage, and you'll be pardoned.
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Actually, I think the Birdcage was fairly ugly, and, in another of my odd styling opinions, I find each and every Pontiac Trans Sport / Montana to be fairly good-looking, though most minivans are - in anyone's opinion, even, since they're never radical in the slightest.

Why do humans think things are beautiful? I have no idea, and I have a business degree - I'm no theologian or philosopher. But I can tell you that under all circumstances, a human buys, uses, and surrounds themselves with what they believe looks good. Whether people say it or not, everyone - EVERYONE - is more concerned about beauty/styling, etc. than any single other thing. Just think: The car you drive - if it looked like a '86 Taurus wagon with seven replaced body panels, one hubcap, two different colours, no rear seats, and minor front-end damage, would you still drive it? The woman you like, date, are married to - if she had no face (none at all) would you have even gone up to her in the first place to talk to her?
 
A lot of it has to do with things beyond our control. The way we were raised, things we were exposed to. The media tells us what's attractive and that's usually what people go with. 100% of Americans will tell you that they're free thinkers, because not many realize how much the things they see and have seen everyday strongly influence their beliefs.

Sorry.. I went off on a little psychology rant :)
 
The beauty of necessity...
Has to do with what must be . It has very little to do with what one wants. The beauty in romanitic love, as pointed out by psonefreak, is only realized as what is wanted after it is , because it had to be. To think that beauty should mould itself to my silly little preferences is to do beauty a grave injustice. And again, to think I could to anything to harm beauty is ludicrous.

Beauty has less to do with the visible than with the intangeable, yet intensely felt, aspects of living.

So... pretty girls and fancy cars or a painting... they may look nice but are they necessary?

A mother breast feeding her baby, a lioness with blood soaked face lying next to a carcass with her cubs, a vast, dramatic landscape. All beautiful.

Beautiful is not what pleases me or you. It is what must be. It is what will be, regardless of any of us. Our role is to feel it. Nothing more.
 
Magic069
Now this, this is the best thing I have ever heard come out of a GTP members mouth (or computer). Good choice!

(I am an Architecter major in case you were wondering. ;) )
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:dopey: I hope you learn to spell "Architecture" before you graduate!
 
Gonz013
Alcohol can do that too...
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Congratulations! You have won a free Apple iPhone for responding to a four year old thread with a useless, unfunny remark. 👍 👍

Honestly, I thought Condraz was going on one of his escapades with this thread. Turns out it's just someone who decided to dig up an old fossil.
 
I bet if everybody pitched a dollar, we could raise enough money to pay Duck to never post again.
 
Gonz013
:dopey: I hope you learn to spell "Architecture" before you graduate!
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Hmmm...💡.. Architecture major in 2002. Its now 2007. You might be a bit late there. :dopey:


Oh. a double whammy of useless comments. Congratulations and welcome to GTP. :) :sly:


ON TOPIC TIEM NAO.


I find beauty in many forms. Cars (Jaguar E-Type, Ford Mustang.) Buildings (Roman Colisseaum), Teh wimminz. :dopey:, Nature, like untouched fields, a sunset going across the mountains.
 
I have a friend that always asks this question, and he never receives a response: "why do guys feel the need to bang everything we see?".
 
If this isn't a case of "Night of the Living Thread," I don't know what is. Quite frankly, I'm not sure why this hasn't been an ongoing debate...

Either way, its something that cannot be easily defined, as it varies largely from person-to-person. While I may find the '67 Corvette to be one of the most-beautiful cars to ever drive down any kind of road, I've known quite a few people who didn't like them one bit.

The same thing can be said of my love for VanGogh's work, particularly his "Starry Night" painting, which is probably my most-favorite painting of all-time. But, there are a lot of people who don't like it either, because its too dark, or odd, or whatever.

I dunno. Color, porportion, or just the way the object/person/place (whatever) looks, acts, feels, smells, etc like plays a large role with anyone as to how they are going to feel about it.

True beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and what had once considered to be the standards of beauty have either died, been destroyed, or have largely become irrelevant by comparison to today's standards. Its something that will change with every generation, for as long as there is another generation to continue the trend.
 

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