Resources > Background knowledge
They say, ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, so, what does beauty mean?
1. The Golden Ratio: Possibly the best rectangle in the world
Find out more about how the proportions of the Golden Ratio are consistently found in nature and have replicated by artists and architects for thousands of years
Source: BBC (2014); Open University (2014). History of Ideas. Duration: 01:55
2. Feminine Beauty: A social construct?
The French existentialist writer Simone de Beauvoir famously declares in her book The Second Sex that a woman isn’t born a woman, rather she becomes one. She means by this that there is no way women have to be, no given femininity, no ideal to which all women should conform. Simone de Beauvoir suggests that resistance to male stereotypes of beauty can mean greater equality.
Source: BBC (2014); Open University (2014). History of Ideas. Duration: 02:01
3. Burke on the sublime
Some things that move us are beautiful, others are sublime. But the sublime moves us more profoundly than the beautiful. See how Edmund Burke tied the experience of the sublime to the possibility of pain and how the idea went on to influence the artistic Romanticism movement.
Source: BBC (2014); Open University (2014). History of Ideas. Duration: 01:48
4. Diotima’s Ladder. Lust to Morality
Diotima’s teaching on how desire is just one rung on the ladder to a higher appreciation of beauty.
Source: BBC (2014); Open University (2014). History of Ideas. Duration: 01:35
CREDIT TO:
BIG IDEAS
01. Beginnings
02. Who am I?
03. Being human
04. Knowledge
05. Beauty
06. Love
07. Freedom
08. Society
09. The good life
10. Right from wrong
11. Justice
12. Technology
CONCEPTS EXPLAINED
01. Astronomy
02. Microgravity
03. Thoughts on theory
04. Theology explained
05. History of the English language
06. Money explained
07. Economics explained
08. The European Union explained