Garrett Almeida
Elisha Emerson
10 April 2018
ENG 110
Beholder’s Eyes
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” Is a common expression about the way in which beauty can be subjective to different people. Most people have witnessed beauty before, and yet there is no agreed upon way to define beauty. Why is beauty subjective? I believe that beauty is subjective because beauty appeals to our needs and desires, and every person has a different set of them. 18th Century dramatist and poet Friedrich Schiller tried to answer this difficult question. Schiller’s theory states that beauty tends to be derived from two facets of humanity; the drive of desire for instant, physical enjoyment, and the drive of desire for order and coherence over time. Schiller’s Ideas help to point out useful information for understanding human nature and the heart of beauty as a concept. The two aforementioned drives (sense and form, respectively) truly do have everything to do with beauty and what each of us perceives it to be. These two drives will allow us to investigate the question “what is beauty?” and see for ourselves that beauty stems from the need or desire for one or both of the drives, no matter who the beholder may be.
The subjectivity of beauty is no secret. One person may find a lake or stream to be pristine and beautiful, where another may simply see a body of dirty water. People can find a multitude of possible things beautiful, such as other people, art, nature, architecture, etc… but not everyone will find everything beautiful. In his essay, Let’s Talk About Art, Anthony Mueller describes his love of gothic cathedrals. He then showed images of gothic cathedrals that he particularly enjoyed to his brother and conducted an interview. This goes as such:
“ I interviewed my brother, Mike. Mike… isn’t a huge fan of most art, but does greatly appreciate music. His first impression sums his overall view on the Gothic cathedral, “I don’t really see the big deal”. I asked him what the building made him feel, it must not have been significant because he looked slightly confused on how to answer…I went further to briefly explain how the structure made me feel and then asked if he now had any feelings from the cathedral. His overall view seemed unchanged, “I understand where you’re coming from, and I can kind of see it. But I just don’t feel the same way”. I was baffled. I understand that art is a flexible term, but I found it weird that my own brother didn’t have remotely similar beliefs; that something which held so much meaning to me, struck nothing in him.”
This sums up the nature of subjectivity in beauty very well. We can determine many things about beauty from this interview, starting with the fact that Mike doesn’t appreciate most art very much, but does enjoy music. Additionally, we can understand that Anthony finds great beauty in the cathedrals, yet his own brother doesn’t see it there ( In order to understand how the sense and form drives work, we first must understand how everyone sees beauty differently, and how everybody has a unique set of needs, desires, and preferences. These needs, desires, and preferences shape how we interpret the world and find beauty in it.
Every person is different, however, most people use two main ways of approaching life in tandem. The first outlook and way of thinking is the intuitive, emotional side. Often referred to as “right-brained”, this mode of thinking is defined by a person’s desires for instant gratification, expression of feelings, creativity, and it links directly to Schiller’s sense drive. The second mode of thought is the analytical, order-based side of human nature. Usually called “left-brained”, it is associated with rationality, justice, order, critical thinking, and is linked to the idea of the form drive. The vast majority of people use some combination of both, with very few being purely logical or purely emotional, but every person has a different combination of the two. Some people will desire instant gratification and pleasure more, while others may desire and need structure, order, and long-term payoff more than immediate options. Because some people have a higher need for pleasure and gratification, or perhaps a greater need for justice and order, what is beautiful to each person will change depending on which drive they need more. Most people fall somewhere in the middle, finding beauty when the two drives meet somewhere in between.
To bring up Anthony Mueller’s project again, the Gothic Cathedral is an excellent example of the two drives coming together. Mueller states that “[the cathedral] invoked powerful emotions of strength and intimidation”. This quote emphasizes how it appeals to his sense drive, evoking emotions in him based on its aesthetic. It looms over the viewer, causing immediate aesthetic feelings of majesty and power. Viewing an image of the cathedral will also reveal the order and structure that went into the architecture. The Cologne Cathedral is absolutely full of straight edges, supports, and geometric structures. There is great symmetry in the entrances and spires that adorn the cathedral. Many patterns can be observed. All of these things appeal to the form drive, being primarily driven by the desire for order. This makes the Cologne Cathedral an excellent example of how beauty is derived from the form and sense drives overlapping.
One such image of the cathedral that inspired Anthony Mueller.
Note the symmetry and order, as well as sheer size.
Due to the sense and form drives, what a person finds beautiful is a good indicator of their needs and desires. I see beauty in most things, however where I find the most beauty tends to be in nature. The stillness, wind or water-driven motion, colors, and feel of natural environments is unparalleled in beauty. The plants and animals that reside in it, living in such cyclical harmony is beautiful in itself both physically and as an idea. Thinking of a mountain trail, swampy bayou, or of the reptiles, birds, fish, frogs, and mammals living in any given environment quickly gets me lost in a daydream. These things give me a feeling of contentment, however, while daydreaming of them, I often come out of it to find myself sitting behind a desk or lounging on a couch or bed. My skin is pale, my body is less than in shape. I find beauty in the natural world, and this reflects my needs for more time spent outside, exploring nature, camping, fishing, and enjoying simple things that haven’t been enjoyed for too long. Nature appeals to the sense drive with its immediately pleasant sights, sounds, and smells. It also appeals to the form drive, as every living thing is the product of millions of years of evolution, functioning in an exact ecological niche as an extremely smooth system that never fails.
A picture I took of the jetty at the mouth of the Saco River in spring of 2017.
I’ve always been amazed by the ocean and all the mystery and might behind it.
Music is another subject that holds great beauty, not only to me, but to most people. There are many kinds of music out there, and each one appeals to people differently. Personally, I’ve always had an unusual taste in music, preferring decades-old songs and artists over most contemporary ones. Looking at this from the position that ideas on beauty reflect one’s needs and desires, I believe that it signifies a desire within myself to return to a simpler time, and to escape the trappings and complexities of modern life. Someone else may feel the opposite, and might enjoy fast-paced modern electronic music to fill a need for excitement and complexity in their lives. I feel as if my desire for older music, simpler times, and a connection to nature can be encapsulated best by the song, Flesh and Blood by Johnny Cash:
Schiller’s ideas about the form and sense drives coming together and appealing to each person uniquely based on their needs and wants managed to encapsulate the duality of human nature extremely well. I agree completely that beauty appeals simultaneously to both the “animalistic” and the “spiritual/mental” sides of humanity. Beauty is for everyone, even though not everything that is beautiful is beautiful for everyone. Beauty is subjective to each individual person. It’s subjective because every person has different needs and desires, yet all of these needs and desires come together with the form and sense drives outlined by Schiller for each and every person. Every beholder has a different set of eyes, and beauty travels through every pair of eyes differently.
Works Cited
Armstrong, John. “Can Beauty Help Us to Become Better People? – John Armstrong | Aeon Essays.” Aeon, Aeon, 24 Apr. 2018, aeon.co/essays/can-beauty-help-us-to-become-better-people.
Mueller, Anthony. “Let’s Talk About Art.” Anthony’s Space, 22 Mar. 2018, amueller1.uneportfolio.org/eng-110/title/.
Dr FumbleFinger. “Cologne Cathedral Side View.” Cologne Cathedral, WeNeedFun, 2011, weneedfun.com/cologne-cathedral/.
Johnny Cash. Flesh And Blood, Columbia Records, New York, 5 Feb. 1970.
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