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Single Idea 21233

[filed under theme 21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 4. Beauty ]

Full Idea

The beautiful should be defined as that of which the admiring contemplation is good in itself.

Gist of Idea

The beautiful is whatever it is intrinsically good to admire

Source

G.E. Moore (Principia Ethica [1903], p.210), quoted by Graham Farmelo - The Strangest Man

Book Ref

Farmelo,Graham: 'The Strangest Man [Paul Dirac]' [Faber 2009], p.74

A Reaction

To work, this definition must exclude anything else which it is intrinsically good to admire. Good deeds obviously qualify for that, so good deeds must be intrinsically beautiful (which would be agreed by ancient Greeks). We can't ask WHY it is good!

The 14 ideas from 'Principia Ethica'

5925 The three main values are good, right and beauty [Moore,GE, by Ross]
5902 For Moore, 'right' is what produces good [Moore,GE, by Ross]
8039 Moore tries to show that 'good' is indefinable, but doesn't understand what a definition is [MacIntyre on Moore,GE]
22151 The Open Question argument leads to anti-realism and the fact-value distinction [Boulter on Moore,GE]
8033 Moore cannot show why something being good gives us a reason for action [MacIntyre on Moore,GE]
8032 Can learning to recognise a good friend help us to recognise a good watch? [MacIntyre on Moore,GE]
11050 Moore's combination of antinaturalism with strong supervenience on the natural is incoherent [Hanna on Moore,GE]
23726 Despite Moore's caution, non-naturalists incline towards intuitionism [Moore,GE, by Smith,M]
5907 Relationships imply duties to people, not merely the obligation to benefit them [Ross on Moore,GE]
11057 It is always an open question whether anything that is natural is good [Moore,GE]
11056 The naturalistic fallacy claims that natural qualties can define 'good' [Moore,GE]
5903 'Right' means 'cause of good result' (hence 'useful'), so the end does justify the means [Moore,GE]
18676 We should ask what we would judge to be good if it existed in absolute isolation [Moore,GE]
21233 The beautiful is whatever it is intrinsically good to admire [Moore,GE]