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The classical Greek noun for "beauty" was κάλλος, kallos, and the adjective for "beautiful" was καλός, kalos. The Koine Greek word for beautiful was ὡραῖος, hōraios,[4] an adjective etymologically coming from the word ὥρα, hōra, meaning "hour". In Koine Greek, beauty was thus associated with "being of one's hour".[5] Thus, a ripe fruit (of its time) was considered beautiful, whereas a young woman trying to appear older or an older woman trying to appear younger would not be considered beautiful. In Attic Greek, hōraios had many meanings, including "youthful" and "ripe old age".[5]

Historical view of beauty

Florence Cathedral and dome. Since the Renaissance in Europe, harmony, symmetry and correct proportions are considered essential elements of universal beauty.

There is evidence that a preference for beautiful faces emerges early in infancy, and is probably innate,[6][7][8][9][10] and that the rules by which attractiveness is established are similar across different genders and cultures.[11][12] Studies by Langlois and coworkers suggests that a face, all of whose features have been averaged, is a critical component of what is considered attractive by both adults and neonates,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] because it suggests the absence of genetic or acquired defects.[13][20][21][22]


Plato considered beauty to be the Idea (Form) above all other Ideas.[24] Aristotle saw a relationship between the beautiful (to kalon) and virtue, arguing that "Virtue aims at the beautiful."[25]



The Age of Reason saw a rise in an interest in beauty as a philosophical subject. For example, Scottish philosopher Francis Hutcheson argued that beauty is "unity in variety and variety in unity".[26] The Romantic poets, too, became highly concerned with the nature of beauty, with John Keats arguing in "Ode on a Grecian Urn" that

Beauty is truth, truth beauty, —that is all.
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.


The 20th century saw an increasing rejection of beauty by artists and philosophers alike, culminating in postmodernism's anti-aesthetics.[27] This is despite beauty being a central concern of one of postmodernism's main influences, Friedrich Nietzsche, who argued that the Will to Power was the Will to Beauty.[28]

In the aftermath of postmodernism's rejection of beauty, thinkers have returned to beauty as an important value. American analytic philosopher Guy Sircello proposed his New Theory of Beauty as an effort to reaffirm the status of beauty as an important philosophical concept.[29][30] Elaine Scarry also argues that beauty is related to justice.[31]

Human beauty

Actress Audrey Hepburn in 1954. She is regarded by some to be one of the most beautiful women of all time.[32][33][34][35]



A strong indicator of physical beauty is "averageness".[13][36][37][38][39][40][41] When images of human faces are averaged together to form a composite image, they become progressively closer to the "ideal" image and are perceived as more attractive. This was first noticed in 1883, when Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, overlaid photographic composite images of the faces of vegetarians and criminals to see if there was a typical facial appearance for each. When doing this, he noticed that the composite images were more attractive compared to any of the individual images.[42]

Fresco of a Roman woman from Pompeii, c. 50 AD

Researchers have replicated the result under more controlled conditions and found that the computer generated, mathematical average of a series of faces is rated more favorably than individual faces.[43] Evolutionarily, it makes logical sense that sexual creatures should be attracted to mates who possess predominantly common or average features.[20]


People are influenced by the images they see in the media to determine what is or is not beautiful. Some feminists and doctors[vague] have suggested that the very thin models featured in magazines promote eating disorders,[45] and others have argued that the predominance of white women featured in movies and advertising leads to a Eurocentric concept of beauty, feelings of inferiority in women of color,[46] and internalized racism.[47]

The black is beautiful cultural movement sought to dispel this notion.[48]

The concept of beauty in men is known as 'bishōnen' in Japan. Bishōnen refers to males with distinctly feminine features, physical characteristics establishing the standard of beauty in Japan and typically exhibited in their pop culture idols. A multi-billion-dollar industry of Japanese Aesthetic Salons exists for this reason.

Effects on society

Chinese jade ornament with flower design, Jin Dynasty (1115–1234 AD), Shanghai Museum


Researchers have found that good looking students get higher grades from their teachers than students with an ordinary appearance.[50] Some studies using mock criminal trials have shown that physically attractive "defendants" are less likely to be convicted—and if convicted are likely to receive lighter sentences—than less attractive ones (although the opposite effect was observed when the alleged crime was swindling, perhaps because jurors perceived the defendant's attractiveness as facilitating the crime).[51] Studies among teens and young adults, such as those of psychiatrist and self-help author, Eva Ritvo, show that skin conditions have a profound effect on social behavior and opportunity.[52]



Discrimination against others based on their appearance is known as lookism.[56]






See also


  2. ^ The Oxford Handbook for Aesthetics
  4. ^ Matthew 23:27, Acts 3:10, Flavius Josephus, 12.65
  5. ^ a b Euripides, Alcestis 515.
  13. ^ a b c Langlois, J.H., Roggman, L. (1990). Attractive faces are only average. Psychol. Sci. 1, 115–121.
  16. ^ average faces are consistently more attractive than the faces used to generate them
  17. ^ Rubenstein, A.J., Langlois, J.H., Roggman, L.A. (2002). What makes a face attractive and why: The role of averageness in defining facial beauty. In G. Rhodes & L.A. Zebrowitz (Eds.), Facial attractiveness: Evolutionary, cognitive, and social perspectives: Westport, CT: Ablex.
  18. ^ Grammer, K., Fink, B., Moller, A.P., Thornhill, R. (2003). "Darwinian aesthetics: sexual selection and the biology of beauty." Biol. Rev. Camb. Philos. Soc. 78, 385–407.
  19. ^ Rhodes, G. (2006) "The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty." Annu. Rev. Psychol. 57, 199–226.
  23. ^ Seife, Charles (2000). Zéro: the biography of a dangerous idea. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-029647-6. p. 32
  24. ^ Phaedrus
  25. ^ Nicomachean Ethics
  27. ^ The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture by Hal Foster
  28. ^ The Will to Power
  30. ^ Love and Beauty. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.
  31. ^ On Beauty and Being Just
  32. ^ "Audrey Hepburn tops Beauty poll". BBC.
  33. ^ "'She thought she had a big nose and feet, was too skinny and not enough breast': Audrey Hepburn's son reveals how the movie star never believed she was beautiful". Daily Mail.
  34. ^ Corliss, Richard (2007-01-20). "Audrey Hepburn: Still the Fairest Lady - TIME". Retrieved 2014-04-19. 
  35. ^ "Audrey Hepburn 'most beautiful woman of all time'". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 June 2004. 
  57. ^ City of God Book 15 Chapter 22
  58. ^ Webster's New World College Dictionary, 3rd edition, 1995

External links