Beauty is a concept that transcends culture, ethnicity, and creed. It is common to most if not all humans. As a species we have determined different standards of beauty, especially in the arts. An aspect that is often left out is divine experiences from art. Those who experience it, are very aware of “something more” when exposed to a certain song, art piece, poem, etc. This argument has also turned atheists into believers. 1 However, it is a hard argument to get across to many people.
Art, music, and any other aesthetic medium are subjective experiences. Each person that views, let’s say, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, experiences different nuances in interpretation. This is why the Argument from Aesthetic…show more content… Among these features are the possession of reliable faculties aimed at truth, the appreciation of beauty, and a sense of humor.
For the most part as a species, we have this intrinsic behavior to appreciate beauty. How do we know what beauty is? As related to the Argument from Degrees of Perfection, there must be a “most beautiful” that we have a basic knowledge of to which we compare all other beautiful things. We have a desire to encounter what is beautiful. Although this argument is not the most “logical” in the common sense of the word considering it does not adhere to widely-used methods of proofs and syllogisms, it is perhaps the most human since it pertains to a collective experience of music and art and literature with which most humans are familiar. The metaphysical experience many experience with art forms is not scientifically explainable; it cannot be summarized in these two pages. It is a highly-personal phenomenon that differs from person to person. Some people may experience this in the chills that run through their bodies when they listen to specific songs or see a certain painting or read a singular line. Others may feel a surreal feeling of something greater, a glimpse at a bigger picture through a divine beauty only partially revealed to
