Why Do We View Things As Beautiful?
 

This is something which has been nagging at me for a while. What makes humans see something as beautiful?

Why do we see a sunset and think 'Wow, that's beautiful.' and yet see muddy ditches and decay and say 'that's horrible.'

My view is that it's just how we're brought up, we're told what is beautiful and what is not. However I believe others may have different opinions... what's yours?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Cliche, I know, but true. Some images of beauty tend to be universal, like a sunset, because humans are drawn to colorful, bright scenes, because of instinct (represent life, warmth, health, etc. - things that benefit survival). Though opinions tend to stratify when it comes to man-made things. For example, some people may call a lit-up city at night "beautiful," while others may not.

So I guess it's part instinct, part mindset.

There are too many reasons.
If something is aesthetically pleasing - symmetrical, colours we like, an interesting or familiar shape or similar.
If something creates an emotional reaction of the right kind.
Even if something is considered interesting, with the right mindset and feelings.
Simplicity or complexity can each be beautiful in their own way, as can scale.

It varies for everything and differently for different people..

I suppose we think of something as beautiful if it catches our sight long enough. Say, you see an Emerald:

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/1...rald_large.jpg

Immediately you think, 'that's amazing! A wonder of nature!'. Amazing things, phenomenon, like this, or a sunset, or a bright sky, or a shooting star can all be considered beautiful.

In my opinion then, the two words 'amazing' and 'beautiful' are tied.

But cannot something be amazingly ugly? War can be amazing but its definitely not beautiful. There is no truth to be found in warfare itself.

When we look and see an emerald, its most striking feature is its geometry. It is mathematics expressed in beautiful form. The very field of mathematics is beautiful because through it, we can unlock the secrets of universe. Through it we can find truth and whenever the truth reveals itself it is beautiful.

http://www.earth62.net/whatis/blackhole.jpghttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FHyd7N0c1_...al-fantasy.jpghttp://www.logotherapyinstitute.org/...ome%20page.jpg
http://www.artinspiration.org/images/CMM27.jpghttp://images.mylot.com/userImages/i...os/2299310.jpg

Whenever we recognize beauty, we catch a glimpse of truth.

Beautiful things are usually fascinating , beautiful is maybe just another word for that , as you mentioned the sunset , which was something really special for humans thousands of years ago (not that it isn't still) , it fascinated them so much that they thought of gods that represent the sun or the moon .

When I think of something beautiful I usually link it with fascinating .

Something seen as ugly often isn't called amazing.

You see a dog's feces on the side of the road:
"Ewww! That's disgusting!"

And sure, war can be amazing. But it's beauty is only found if you look for it.
On the outside, all you see is blood and dirt.

Beauty to me encompasses two different things. One is how I would define a beautiful person: not physically, but spiritually. One day I want to find a soul mate that is very curious about sciences, humble, respectful to others and the planet, totally themselfs and not trying to be what society wants them to be, and loves to try new things and live every day like an adventure. That is what I consider a beautiful individual.

As for objects or other things that I would call beautiful, these are the things I look for.
One would be creativity. This could include artwork created by humans or moreso things that you can find in nature.

Two would be the mysterious. One reason why I love Astronomy, things that seem to be above human logic I consider to be mysterious as well as beautiful. A starry night sky, is in my opinion on of the most beautiful things you can ever observe. It is beautiful to me because 1) It looks creative, like a masterpiece of artwork 2) It is such a large scale, so much larger than me or even our planet. and 3) It is so mysterious, we still don't understand a lot about the cosmos like Dark Matter and Black Holes and stuff.

And how exactly can war be beautiful? You can see qualities within those fighting but there isn't anything beautiful about men killing other men.

As I said. You have to look hard enough.

I still do not understand. In war, we have to take a human being and strip away his beauty. If we want to want kill him, we have to demonize him first in our minds. Find for me, one sane soldier who has been in active combat and thinks that war is beautiful.

I'm not going to search all over the net for that. I have other things to work on.

Believe me, everything is beautiful in it's own way.

For example, in war, allegiances are thrown to the side in fighting a common enemy. Virtues like courage, strength, and honour are shown. Friendships are made for life. And as much as people here may disagree, the vast technology used in wars is also beautiful in it's own way.

Virtues, friendships, and technology are their own seperate entities. They do not constitute the fabric of war. You can have a war without these qualities and you can have these qualities without war.

I think people find things beautiful because it's pleasing to them. Like you said, people see sunsets and think it looks beautiful, obviously the sight of the sunset pleases them. There are some people who don't care how a sunset looks. It doesn't please them so I doubt they would call it beauty full.

There are a lot of reason though.