On May 8, 2008, at 8:36 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Now, either your "beauty" is a
mind-independent object like that physical painting and that car, or
it is solely
notional, and therefore idiosyncratically different in each mind.
I'm not quite sure what's in your mind when you say "notional": can
you explain? My quick conclusion is that, for you, notional denotes
things held in the mind. Do you use that term in a more specific or
precise way?
Moving on, consider this question: Are proportions and various other
descriptions of the relationship of one thing to another part of the
object "out there" or are they exclusively in one's head? I believe
that, if there is an "out there" there, then the relationships are out
there in the objects. However, they are known to us "in here," as
matters of knowledge or cognition.
Thus, the properties that we deem to comprise beauty are resident in
the objects, in some way that can be perceived by us and reduced to
our understanding. The human figure that stands 8 heads high is out
there; we perceive that person or drawing, make the measurements that
reveal those proportions, and pronounce that particular ratio
beautiful or not.
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Michael Brady
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
