Beauty the Nature and Principles

¶ … Beauty The nature and principles of aesthetics have been among the primary pursuits of philosophy practically since its first practitioners began writing. The three greatest Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plat, and Aristotle, each had their own beliefs and writings on the subject of aesthetics and, more importantly, the nature of Beauty.

Six centuries later, the Hellenistic Neoplatonist (or Platonist, depending on whom you consult) Plotinus wrote his own brief treatise on the subject of beauty, which can in many ways be connected not only to Plato's concept of beauty and basic metaphysics, but can even trace a legacy back to Socrates' discussion of beauty and love in the "Diotima" section of his Symposium.

For both Socrates and Plotnius, Beauty relates to Form, and most importantly to Virtue, which is the purest translation of eternal From that is available to us; it is unadulterated by a material body and so is simply beautiful in and of itself. Though there are significant differences in their descriptions of the nature of Beauty, both Socrates and Plotinus relate it to the concept of the eternal.

Like many works of philosophy, especially the texts of the ancient Greeks, both Socrates and Plotinus begin their discussions of beauty by first determining what beauty is not. The bulk of Socrates' Symposium is, in fact, devoted to other definitions of love -- and by extension, beauty. Socrates' response does not come in the form of a direct refutation of these other proposals, but rather he offers his alternative defnition in the form of a lesson he received at the hands of Diotima, a wise woman he met once.

According to her -- and now Socrates, whom she has convinced -- beauty is to be equated with goodness; both are sought after by men in order that they might be happy, and as happiness is the ultimate goal of the Good, Beuaty must stem from the same inherent Good as Virtue, and not from any material form. Plotinus echoes this sentiment in more clearly defined terms in the section of his Enneads that focuses on Beauty.

Plotinus' philosophy is marked by a certain mysticism and religious belief that is distinctly and explicitly lacking in much of Socrates' work, and this had a definite and observable affect on his basic theory of metaphysics and his specific beliefs regarding beauty. Yet despit the disparity in the Socrates' and Lotinus' religious and mystic beliefs, the basic logic behind the two philosopher's thoughts on Beauty is remarkably consistent. Plotinus begins his discussion of Beauty by first acknowledging that beauty is often found in symmetry.

He examines this phenomenon and eventually concludes that beauty cannot be tied inherently to symmetry, because this would mean that things could not be beautiful without being made of constituent parts, and this would rule out most non-material Beauties. Like Socrates, Plotinus believes that Virtue and Wisdom are higher forms of beauty than physical or material beauty, and therefore any definition of beauty or explanation of the cause and/or nature of Beauty that disallowed or somehow diminished the beauty of these things must be incorrect.

Following this logic to its natural genesis, Plotinus provides a basic though complex definition of Beauty, or at least the process that creates it and allows for its perception: "This, then, is how the material thing becomes beautiful -- by communicating in the thought that flows from the Divine." That is, the Divine -- which is largely derived form Plato's concept of the Ideal Form, upon which Plotinus also heavily relies -- is the only truly Beautiful things, and all other beautiful things are representations of this Divine Beauty that are necessarily less beautiful.

Socrates and Plotinus also have very similar ideas on how Beauty is recognized, which though intimately related to their ideas on the nature of Beauty are somewhat different, also. For both men, Beauty was connected to the eternal.

Socrates, being at least somewhat (and perhaps completely) atheistic, does not immediately or necessarily connect the concept of the eternal with the concept of the divine, however, but rather recognizes the inherent Beauty in the only act of immortality that mortals can engage in -- procreation and generation, which leads to "beauty in birth." The physical act of love between a man and a woman is described by Socrates -- through the voice of Diotima -- as an act of supreme beauty, and its effects are equally beautiful, as it causes immortality and hence touches upon the eternal.

Beauty is also connected to love because love cannot occur with deformity; the closer a material thing comes to representing its ideal form, the more Beautiful it becomes because it is closer to touching the eternal. This argument in some ways celebrates material beauty, though only insofar as it connects to eternal Beauty.

Plotinus sees this connection also, but departs from Socrates in his recommendation to any capable man to "let him arise and withdraw into himself, foregoing all that is known by the eyes, turning away for ever from the material beauty that once made his joy...he must know them for copies, vestiges, shadows, and hasten away towards That they tell of." Plotinus believes that true Virtue -- which is itself Beautiful -- is best attained not by recognizing the presence of the Divine in material beauty, but by turning away from these imperfect representations.

Plotinus carries this argument to its logical extremes, insisting that the Soul must be made Beautiful (by becoming Virtuous and so strengthening its connection to the Divine and the eternal by mirroring the eternal Ideal Forms) before an individual can hope to perceive the First Beauty, which is the ultimate and incomprehensible Good of the Divine. At this point, his mysticism has largely taken over, and his departure from Socrates is nearly complete. This does not represent a disagreement.