R: Beauty is Objective

Beauty elicits a reaction like no other in the heart of man. Yearning and satisfaction simultaneously arise from somewhere deep within one's being, and time itself seems to vanish into the background of consciousness as the soul grasps at transcendence and primal truth. Simply put, there can be no Good Life without experiencing beauty.

Therefore, as we investigate and pursue the Good Life, we must pause and consider the objectivity of beauty. Objective beauty would seem to imply that some things are inherently more or less beautiful than others, prior to the response it produces in us. Two concertgoers can legitimately argue over whether a particular performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion is more beautiful than another, without the debate being a pointless disagreement over preferences.

Does beauty exist outside our experience of it? While we may appeal to reason and revelation as a source of authority in matters of truth and morality, it is perhaps more difficult to do so in matters of beauty. Objective beauty could imply that some religious buildings are inherently more beautiful than others, prior to any sense of awe and wonder that they produce in worshippers. If beauty is objective, how can we convince others of a thing's true beauty, if observers struggle to appreciate it upon first or second glance?

On the other hand, non-objective beauty seems to call into question whether the human soul universally carries an imprint of the divine. Ludwig van Beethoven famously said, "music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." If art and beauty convey truth in the same manner as revelation, then a subjective view of beauty may prevent us from reconciling differences between rival views of truth. On the other hand, if beauty is merely a means to truth, as revelation and reason are, then perhaps there is more room for variation from person to person.