Best of the Week: Parmenides and change

The part of Sophie's World that has interested me most so far is discussing the idea of change, specifically the one suggested by Parmenides. The line that started making me think wason page 36, that said that Parmenides "believed that our senses give us an incorrect picture of the world, a picture that does not tally with our reason." This idea has been stuck in my head ever since I read it. I often think about something I learned in Easter Religions class sophomore year, the Buddhist idea that we are CONSTANTLY changing, and even science agrees. The body that we are in is not the same one we were in a few years ago-- every cell renews itself, therefore, if all of our cells are different, we are different. Our way of thinking changes and advances, as well.
This idea was brought up again in Sophie's World in the chapter on Plato. On page 84, the idea horses not being all the same, and also in the section of the book that discussed how even though a river is called the same, it is really not the same river or water that was viewed previously. As humans, we classify everything using our senses, and conclude that if something shared a location with something else, it is the same thing.

The main thought that has lasted in my head is about reality-- what is real? Is nothing real? Is life an illusion? Things like the sunset, as mentioned in the Flaming Lips' song "Do You Realize?, are examples of illusions that we have come to understand. Without seeing the big picture, it seems to humans like the sunset is one set thing-- the sun is setting and creating beautiful colors. However, once you can look at the whole earth, one can see that we are actually just revolving. I think that there are so many things in our world that if we could see them from a perspective outside of our own, we would realize how wrong we are, and that we just cannot understand them the way we see them now.

The Definition of Beauty

I struggle with listing things that are beautiful. I think that figuring out what I find beautiful would help me define the word, but the only thing that pops into my head is a blurry green landscape. My initial definition to beauty is much like the one given in the dictionary-- beauty is a quality of something that evokes emotion and pleasure. This attempt at a definition is much to vague, broad, general, and unhelpful. Using this definition would deem cotton candy, family vacations or cheddar Goldfish snacks (all things that evoke pleasure or make me happy) as beautiful.

Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder. Of course, humans have very similar ideas to what beauty is, but picking out THE most beautiful is always subjective. That being said, the definition of beauty, or the way the we feel when we see something beautiful, could very well be genetic. Men find women with certain waist to hip ratios more beautiful that other women because that ratio reflect a woman's fertility. Therefore, this attraction seems like a genetic disposition present in humans in order to come out ahead in the survival of the fittest, and to carry on the human race. People find symmetry in face of someone of the opposite sex to be more beautiful and attractive because it reflect health.

As mentioned in "Call of Beauty," this is also true with landscapes-- we find open green pastures to be beautiful because it means that no predators could be hiding in the open area, and maybe because green signifies life.

Still, it seems that some men find women who are physically very artificial (make-up, surgery) beautiful. I included the video of a woman being altered by make-up and Photoshop because it made me think about skewed perceptions of beauty.

YouTube Video: Altered Beauty

Maybe beauty has nothing to do with survival of the fittest. What affects young childrens perception of beauty? Is it based on parent's opinions, the 'pretty girl' character in TV shows, or is it inborn?

Right now, writing this blog post, I can feel myself slipping deeper into confusion about the definition of beauty. Every step I think I take in the right direction, I contradict myself and find more holes in my theory.

Beauty is something that causes pleasure or evokes emotion that you want to be next to, with, or present in. People would want to be next to a beautiful flower, with a beautiful person or in a beautiful part of nature. Beauty defines something you want. The antonyms of 'beauty', including repulsive, unappealing, unattractive and offensive, offer insight into what beauty really means. Beauty must attract. Beauty must cause pleasure or intrigue. Beauty must be felt.