The humanities, which have been around for centuries are a collection of several ideas that each person can interpret in their own fashion. It also states that as humans we should all want to know as much about each other as possible. Which truly makes sense knowing that we all have our own perceptions of the different aspects of life.
The text goes on to share that there are gifts of humanities. Some of which including aesthetics and beauty. These two really spoke to me in the sense that they are so subjective. Everyone has their own personal definition of what is aesthetic or what is beautiful.
The text tells us that "A universal definition of beauty that fits every example may be impossible to find" (page 6). This is the text stating directly that there is no set definition of what beauty might or might not be.
Take these two photos for example.
The two photos above are perfect examples of how beauty/aesthetics is subjective rather than having one set look or definition. One person may find the top photo more appealing, and the next person may prefer the bottom photo. It truly depends on each person and their preferences. While everyone does not find the same photo beautiful or aesthetically pleasing, that does not mean there there is not beauty in the other photo.
One quote from the text I liked was "People prefer to live amid beauty than amid ugliness" (page 5).
While this quote would be perceives as a truthful statement, it is still extremely subjective. Each person would have a different idea of what is beautiful and what is ugly. So what they choose to live amongst is going to differ. Knowing that everyone will have their own different preferences is in my option a very important part of making connections and forming relationships. This is not talked about in the text but I feel like it is directly related. If you are trying to bond with someone in any manner, understanding what they find beautiful and what they find pleasure in is a key part in understanding them as a person.
Another quote from the text relating to beauty is "It is pleasant and desirable to see beautiful things and beautiful people" (page 5).
While this again is technically what we would think to be true. In my opinion it cannot really be true if there are different ideas of what a beautiful thing or a beautiful person is.
But that seems to me to be what the whole idea of what the humanities are.
The humanities encourage us to want to learn what other people consider to be beautiful, or what they find to be aesthetic. They encourage us to notice the difference in how we all think and embrace that we are different and have evolved.
Janaro, R. P., & Altshuler, T. C. (2017). The Art of Being Human: The humanities as a technique for living (11th ed.). Pearson.
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