This is an extremely heartfelt description of beauty by one of our best thinkers !
Even though I wholly agree with Feynman's point of view, I would like to add that there is the element of habit that might pertain to beauty. As he says, the aesthetic beauty of the flower is available to the human any time he so wishes. Yet, the scientist might be so habituated to scientific way of thinking that it may become hard for him or her to sort of suspend that mode while experiencing the beauty of the flower.
I believe that the human brain has qualitatively different modes of thought and even experience. And, it is to the imbalance in using these modes that I would react to if I were to take Feynman's artist friend's side of the argument.
Posted by: Sumiran | Oct 5, 2011 7:39:13 PM
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and is only skin deep.
A family of deer in the backyard is fun to watch but the fun ceases when they eat your garden or are so plentiful you can't get your car out of the garage or if they jump into your windshield when you leave home and destroy your car and possibly kill the riders.
Trees are beautiful and do much good for the environment but when they are near buildings and drop leaves or acorns or other debris which clog up rain gutters causing damage to roofs and foundations, or blow down destroying your house in a windstorm, they lose some of their beauty too.
Water is a very beautiful and necessary substance to sustain life but if there is too much of it or it has too much salt in it and cannot be consumed, it loses its luster too. "Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink". And when water destroys buildings as a universal solvent, it isn't a pretty sight and can be very costly to owners.
Birds are beautiful and fun to watch but when your car is covered with bird droppings after having been parked under a tree or a plane crashes due to birds flying into the engines, they are not so pretty are they?
The laws of physics are very beautiful when they are properly used for the benefit of mankind but not so pretty when they are used to blow up the earth or corrupted.
There are two sides to everything in nature and life.
This is sort of a general extension of the action principle in physics. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".
"I couldn't tear myself
away from 3 Quarks Daily, to the point of neglecting my work. Congratulations on
this superb site."—Steven
Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University.
"I have placed 3 Quarks Daily at the head of my list of web bookmarks."—Richard
Dawkins, Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University.
"Just wanted you to know I’m one of many who reads and enjoys 3 Quarks....almost daily."—David Byrne, musician, former lead-singer of the Talking Heads, artist, intellectual.
Comments
This is an extremely heartfelt description of beauty by one of our best thinkers !
Even though I wholly agree with Feynman's point of view, I would like to add that there is the element of habit that might pertain to beauty. As he says, the aesthetic beauty of the flower is available to the human any time he so wishes. Yet, the scientist might be so habituated to scientific way of thinking that it may become hard for him or her to sort of suspend that mode while experiencing the beauty of the flower.
I believe that the human brain has qualitatively different modes of thought and even experience. And, it is to the imbalance in using these modes that I would react to if I were to take Feynman's artist friend's side of the argument.
Posted by: Sumiran | Oct 5, 2011 7:39:13 PM
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and is only skin deep.
A family of deer in the backyard is fun to watch but the fun ceases when they eat your garden or are so plentiful you can't get your car out of the garage or if they jump into your windshield when you leave home and destroy your car and possibly kill the riders.
Trees are beautiful and do much good for the environment but when they are near buildings and drop leaves or acorns or other debris which clog up rain gutters causing damage to roofs and foundations, or blow down destroying your house in a windstorm, they lose some of their beauty too.
Water is a very beautiful and necessary substance to sustain life but if there is too much of it or it has too much salt in it and cannot be consumed, it loses its luster too. "Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink". And when water destroys buildings as a universal solvent, it isn't a pretty sight and can be very costly to owners.
Birds are beautiful and fun to watch but when your car is covered with bird droppings after having been parked under a tree or a plane crashes due to birds flying into the engines, they are not so pretty are they?
The laws of physics are very beautiful when they are properly used for the benefit of mankind but not so pretty when they are used to blow up the earth or corrupted.
There are two sides to everything in nature and life.
This is sort of a general extension of the action principle in physics. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".
Posted by: W.J.Abbe | Oct 6, 2011 4:51:47 AM
Post a comment