Single Idea 7540

[catalogued under 21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 5. Natural Beauty]

Full Idea

Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws which without this appearance would have remained eternally hidden from us.

Gist of Idea

Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws

Source

Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 183)

Book Reference

Goethe,J. Wolfgang: 'Maxims and Reflections' [Penguin 1840], p.21


A Reaction

An interesting defence of beauty as an objective feature of the world. I'm not sure. Much beauty is indeed the result of growth or erosion expressing underlying laws, but then I have always thought there was a sexual component to visual beauty.