Michael Brady wrote:
> Beauty is a property of things perceived by humans, who can judge and
evaluate abstractly.
To which Mike Mallory responded:
I suggest that beauty is a property (type of experience really) of humans
which we perceive (is stimulated by or associated by) in things.
Re Brady's remark: I sure don't think "beauty" names anything "in" a
non-notional object, any more than I think "deliciousness" does. And the phrase
"evaluate abstractly" is too abstract for me -- i.e. I'm not sure what you
"mean".
Do you "mean" there's a "property", "beauty", "in" some things that we
perceive directly, and we then conjure a notion of an "abstraction" that is our
judging and subsequent mental approval of this "beauteousness"? But, given that
you say the "property" is "beauty", can you imagine our disapproving of it? Do
you want to say we "judge and evaluate" it, or, given that it's posited as
"beauty", do we just "register" it? Then how would you account for someone
else,
whom you felt no dumber or of less sensibility than you, declaring he doesn't
like it? "She's a beauty!" "Nah -- she's too skinny." "I love all the operas of
Mozart." "I love a lot of them, but I find IDOMENEO a crashing bore." As for
'property', see below.
Re Mallory's remark: As phrased, this feels confused, beginning with the
initial impression it's saying that the same so-called "property" is both "in"
humans and "in" the object:
"I suggest that beauty is a property (type of experience really) of humans
which we perceive (is stimulated by or associated by) in things."
Or are you saying "beauty" is entirely notional but we perceive it as being
"in" the non-notional object -- i.e. we deludedly reify the beauty-notion;
that is, see it as a non-notional object, an object that we then "project into"
the object?
Why do you use the word 'property'? It's badly fuzzy to begin with, and the
fuzziness is compounded by the questionable "ontic status" of "properties".
Using your parenthetical insertions we can get rid of the word:
"I suggest that beauty is a type of human experience that arises in our minds
when we contemplate certain non-notional objects. In other words, 'beauty' is
a label for a kind of feeling we get, just as 'pain' or 'itching' is."
Of course, I realize this may not at all be what you had in mind. But THAT, I
would plead, is not solely my fault.
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