What is Beauty?

Posted by our Chronicler, Jaron B.

Is it something we observe, hear, smell, experience or are we emotionally attached to something of beauty?

 

 

 

 

To a sports fan, the football player made a beautiful tackle.  The elegance of the ballerina is beautiful because of the grace of her dance.  The Olympic gymnast is beautiful because of the poise in her routine.  Blessed Mother Teresa is beautiful because of what she has done for the lepers and sick people she comforted.

 

What do these four examples have in common?  They are all beautiful but the way we observe beauty is different.  How?  The three above Blessed Mother Teresa are all observable.  Now if you look at Blessed Mother Teresa, do you think she is beautiful?  Most will say no but there has to be something beautiful about her.  Is it the way she is dressed, sees things or her works?  Most will say that what she has done in her lifetime is beautiful.

 

Some other thoughts that we had of what beauty is were:

-Truth            -Observable              -Colours

-Goodness      -Smell                      -Patterns

-Time             -Work                      -Emotional response

-Grace            -Nature                    -Experience

-Hear              -Art

 

                

We looked at two different philosophers:

Socrates

•      Philosopher from Ancient Greece  469-399 BC

•      Considered founder of Western philosophy

•      He never wrote anything down!  His student Plato wrote for him.

•      He questioned everything and thought that the best way to learn was through asking questions

•      He was arrested, tried and put to death for corrupting youth- all he wanted to do was make them think!

•      He thought humans are born with rational thought including an innate sense of beauty is.

 

 

 

David Hume

•      Scottish Philosopher who lived from 1711-1776

•      He was skeptical of many classical ideas

•      He thought that desire rather than reason governed human behaviour.

•      He thought everything was learned through experience

•      He felt beauty was relative and based on individual taste

In summary:

Socrates thought humans are born with rational thought including an innate sense of beauty

David Hume thought everything was learned through experience and that feeling beauty was relative and based on individual taste.

The big question of the day was "If it is not beautiful, can it be art?"

Yes!  Most of us agreed that it can still be art if it is not beautiful because everybody perceives beauty differently.

 

Psalm 139:14

 

I praise you , for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;  my soul know it very well.

 

What is Justice?

Posted by our Chronicler, Jaron B.

Is it fairness?  Is it equality?  What's the difference?

Some of the thoughts we had during our recent discussion were that JUSTICE is about doing the right thing at the right time.  It's also about being judged correctly.  An important part of Justice is also showing mercy.  We agreed that Justice is often fair but certainly not equal, however it ought to be reasonable.

We studied two philosophers that day.  It led our discussion to the topic of LOVE.  First we talked about Plato:

•       Philosopher from Ancient Greece  427-347 BC
•       One of the first philosophers in Western history to record his philosophical ideas in a systematic way
•       He was immensely influential
•       Opened a school in Athens
•       His teacher was Socrates
•       All his writings are written in the form of dialogues

Second, we looked at Michel de Montaigne:

 

• Famous French philosopher from the Renaissance (1533-1592)
• He was a Roman Catholic who often acted as a moderator between Catholics and Protestants who both respected him
• He wrote many essays

 

We looked at what they both thought about LOVE.

 

PLATO-RATIONAL	MICHELLE DE MONTAIGN - IRRATIONAL
COMMON SENSE LOVE IS SOMETHING THAT IS REASONABLE TO LOVE SOMETHING THAT IS BEAUTIFUL	HE THOUGHT  THAT LOVE DID NOT MAKE ANY SENSE THAT IT WAS IRRATIONAL

 

We also discussed the myth of Odysseus and Penelope.

We talked about Odysseus and Penelope and how they still loved each other even though they did not see each other. They still loved each other, so this proves that love is most commonly irrational.

 In the picture above it shows Penelope sewing a big quilt. She sewed this quilt as a fake tradition. There are a whole bunch of suitors behind her trying to get her attention but she was ignoring.

Psalms 106:3

Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.