Arthur Schopenhauer, a German philosopher of the 19th century, had a rather pessimistic view of beauty and its importance in human life. According to him, beauty was a superficial illusion that could only offer momentary and ephemeral pleasure. He believed that people who attach too much importance to beauty are often superficial and do not understand the true issues of life.
Schopenhauer also believed that the pursuit of beauty can be dangerous, as it can lead to vanity, jealousy, and competition. He argued that beauty is often used as a tool of power and manipulation, and that people should be aware of this reality.
This is understandable because the 19th century was a time when women were often bought by paying a dowry to their father, and where moralism and cultural values were at their peak.
Ultimately, Schopenhauer believed that true wisdom consists in recognizing that beauty is an illusion, and that the true value of life lies in the pursuit of truth and knowledge. However, it should be noted that his view of beauty is not shared by all philosophers and thinkers, and that many artists and writers have found great value and inspiration in beauty.
Generally speaking, beauty is a notion that varies depending on cultures, epochs, and individuals, and is therefore subjective. It can be perceived through different elements such as nature, people, physical things, ideas, or experiences.
Why does beauty exist? This question does not have a definitive answer because it depends on the adopted point of view. From a scientific perspective, beauty could be explained by collecting and analyzing data on biological, psychological, or social criteria such as harmony of forms, symmetry, proportion, brightness, color, complexity, rarity, authenticity, novelty, familiarity, conformity to aesthetic norms, etc.
From a philosophical point of view, beauty can be considered as a universal value that expresses humanity's aspiration for perfection, harmony, and transcendence. It can be perceived as a source of emotion, sensitivity, contemplation, reflection, and creation, which allows to give meaning to life, to communicate with others, and to transcend the limits of reality.
After presenting my latest column, I now realize that beauty is the engine that propels, that guides, the thinking subject's reflection. In the infinite variety of possible responses to a question or a reflection, a choice is made to crystallize an answer. After meditating on this cognitive process that occurs in me, I have found that only beauty could be the origin of ideas, which guides the unconscious to communicate with the conscious. A way that the body has found to "teleguide" the moment when we hypothetically "choose" the thought in response to a question.
In summary, beauty is the unconscious manifesting itself through artistic action to propel universal entropy. From a more personal point of view, beauty is the influence that the body exerts on cognition to condition artistic action, if we continue my reflection as art translating into the expression of being.
If we accept this postulate, we could say that beauty is the consequence of the existence of the concept of God. In other words, "beauty is God himself," the conscious concept that governs this reality through the unconscious of existence. This is a secular way of answering the theme: "Religion."
I'll leave you now for another column,
"Um bem haja !"
