Full Idea
Like the word 'good', the word 'beautiful', when deprived of contextual support, is nearly contentless.
Gist of Idea
The word 'beautiful', when deprived of context, is nearly contentless
Source
Robert Fogelin (Walking the Tightrope of Reason [2003], Ch.6)
Book Reference
Fogelin,Robert: 'Walking the Tightrope of Reason' [OUP 2004], p.153
A Reaction
If I say with, for example, Oscar Wilde that beauty is the highest ideal in life, this doesn't strike me as contentless, but I still sympathise with Fogelin's notion that beauty is rooted in particulars.