[Philosophy Friday] Understanding Aesthetics

It's not always easy to decide what's beautiful...

So I’m a little critical on this blog — I’ll admit it. Every week, I recommend films, video games and television shows that I think are good and I tear apart others that I think are pretty lousy. Clearly, my tastes are particularly, and my preferences are for things that I consider good. Most people develop their own sets of preferences for things that they find good which may or may not conflict with my own. That’s part of being human.

But have you ever stopped and wondered how we arrive at conclusions about what is good and what is bad, what is perfect and what is flawed?

The field of criticism is based on a philosophical principle called “aesthetics,” and it’s the basis that we use to determine what we like and what we don’t like. Most people have an intuitive grasp of aesthetics, but never bother to develop their understanding to a point that they can broaden their own horizons very easily. And there’s another problem, too – the problem of whether or not there is some universal sense of “good” aesthetics (i.e. whether truth and beauty are directly related) or whether or not aesthetic values are determined by culture and experience.

Let’s take a closer look at the issue and see if we can arrive at any conclusions.

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