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My goal for this essay is to try and figure out why things are beautiful. Essentially to figure out if there is some kin of standard for why humans perceive certain things as beautiful. I plan to accomplish this by breaking down various things that are known as beautiful and kind of dissect why these things are beautiful. I plan on talking about topics from art, to landscapes, to even architecture and figure out what the similarities to why they are beautiful are. One article that I chose interviews many different people from different backgrounds and asks them about what they think about beauty. Essentially I want to go through as many different definitions and reasonings behind beauty as possible and see whats consistent between them. The biggest challenge I see is that my thesis is very broad and I’m not quite sure that what I’m trying to say will be very clear.  Another challenge that poses an equal threat is that I’m scared my essay will just turn into a big list of examples of beauty and will lose it’s drive and focus. If I find one of these challenges are too hard to solve, then my back-up plan would be to edit my thesis so it’s much more specific. I have plenty of examples of beauty through my various sources so I feel as though I could still confidently back up a completely new thesis.

Revised Thesis: Beauty is a universal feeling to all humans but it is not felt in the same way for the same moments or objects for everyone. Is there anything objectively beautiful to all humans?

I plan on including visual aids of some of the various forms of beauty that I might mention to give my audience a better idea of what I’m exactly referring to. This will also help in describing things that can’t be put into words well like raw emotion. Pictures also give the readers a little rest/break from all the reading. So the pictures will be a nice way to break up a long or complex idea because readers can take time to look at the picture before diving back into the reading. Another idea I have is to put in subtitles to break down my essay into multiple parts. These titles can give the readers a better idea of what’s happening in each paragraph. This will also in turn help me with my organization of this essay. It can help me not continually write one idea for too long and better manage my space I have left in me essay.

The question I want to use for my essay is, “What can be classified as beauty?” I feel as though in modern society there are many different examples of beauty being something thats near impossible to define. Almost any person you ask will tell you a different way of standardizing what they consider beautiful. Because of this huge discrepancy, many people have tried creating a definition for what is beautiful. With all these attempts and different ways to identify beauty, which is right? I argue that every method and idea is right. I believe that everyone has an entirely different definition and view of what is beautiful and that’s okay. The first example introduced in the National Geographic article was a Vogue worker who was trying to find new girls to be models. This worker had said that beauty was a hard thing to describe and wasn’t really sure what she knew was beautiful. She said she just had a feeling when she met an applicant that met her criteria. Another example was a scientist who looked at facial recognition and proposed that the more symmetrical a face, generally the more appealing it will be to others. There are certain characteristics that humans find attractive and beautiful. While this is accurate, it is not necessarily the full case. Many things are beautiful even if they defy the trends that normally mean beauty. Also many things that aren’t people like environments, objects, memories etc can be very beautiful. Beauty isn’t limited to just strictly people and how they look. I would argue that this scientific breakdown of beauty is mores just one aspect of beauty. One of the podcasts I chose as an example in my essay was a father describing how a hockey team winning a game was his most favorite memory of beauty. Hockey of all things is a very violent and harsh sport that is often purely watched for entertainment. While his definition of beauty is extremely unconventionally it is objectively correct. You can’t say that his definition/example is wrong or bad because his example is beautiful to him exclusively. This is why   I propose beauty can’t be. specifically defined, because it is something entirely dependent on the viewer. Beauty is something completely different from person to person. This is why I say that there is no real way to define beauty. Beauty is something that is entirely objective and it should be .  Beauty is defined as a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. This definition becomes variable because what pleases every person is different. While you can break it down by saying certain things that please all humans would technically be beautiful to everyone. This is technically true but not everyone would regard something that pleases them as beautiful. To conclude, beauty is something that is incredibly hard to define and therefore is different for everyone. Basically anything can beautiful.

The article I read about beauty was called, “The Enigma of Beauty” by Cathy Newman. This article was posted  on National Geographic’s website and tries to dissect  what beauty is. The article starts with an interview with Sheli Jeffry who works at vogue. Jeffry is interview young women who are interviewing to be a model at Vogue. When asked what she looks for in women to find beautiful models, she doesn’t really know. She says that when she sees them she’ll know it. The article continues to dissect how various people view beauty. There are many different ways to view and interpret beauty according to the article. I chose this one because I specifically want to argue that beauty isn’t something that can be broken down by simple definitions. This article has such a wide variety of views on beauty that it will support my argument of there being no single definition of what beauty is.  I also plan to support this argument through the use of two podcasts that have a different take on beauty. Sara’s podcast shows her father’s view on this favorite moment of beauty and his answer was a less serious hockey game win. This example defies most traditional definitions of beauty yet still was his choice. The other podcast I want to use is Cyrus’s because the definition of beauty was more traditional yet still unique in it’s own right. Essentially I believe that anything could be beautiful to anyone and intend to prove that in my essay.

I feel like Armstrong’s statement is essentially calling out all those who don’t see beauty for what it truly is. One thing he says is an incorrect interpretation of beauty is luxury adornment, which means that something isn’t beautiful just because it is expensive or fancy. Armstrong strays from saying that material objects themselves are something of beauty unless of course he’s talking about a piece of art but there is a strong difference between an impressive painting and a fancy gold bracelet. Putting monetary worth to beauty defeats the whole purpose of why something can be beautiful. Just because something costed you a lot doesn’t immediately mean it is special. Armstrong had said this when talking about beauty, “When we find something beautiful, we are called towards a vision of harmonious perfection. This is not a quality in the object, but a longing in ourselves” Beauty is a personal experience that is felt in your soul somewhere money strictly cannot access. Another incorrect interpretation of beauty was a social signifier and I believe Armstrong is calling out people who claim something is beautiful just because other people think it is. This sort of status quo defeats the whole personal attachment something that is beautiful will have to the individual.  Sure, a very impressive and well done painting may connect with many people because of the raw talent that was put into it, but that does not mean it has to be beautiful for everyone. My personal view on beauty are a little less strict than Armstrong’s version that speaks to the different drives; I think for something to be classified as beauty you just need to decide that. Anything can be beautiful to any person and it’s entirely subjective in my mind. Honestly I feel as though a reason is entirely unnecessary and anything can be beautiful.

The chapter I chose to focus on in the They Say/I Say book was chapter 16, Writing in the Sciences. I chose this chapter specifically because my essay talks exclusively about the importance of science versus art and this chapter show how to argue from a scientific perspective rather than an artistic one. This chapter specifically talks about how to respectfully argue against someone by bringing up their argument before using yours to prove them wrong.  I used this tactic to effectively argue against the implement of art in STEM in my essay.

This is from my original essay:

“STEAM is not necessary to advance society while STEM subjects are.”

Revised Version:

“While many may believe that art is something necessary for human growth and development, the only constant that has helped human advance through history is STEM subjects.”

While science is an amazing tool for humanity to learn about the natural world, it is not appreciated, but rather is disregarded and many want to avoid it or change what it is. Mark Boslough talks about this issue in his article, We Must Protect U.S. Investment in Scientific Knowledge. He says, “Such thinking has encouraged belief in pseudoscientific and unscientific ideas ranging from crystal healing in Taos to flying saucers in Roswell.” Here Boslough is trying to say that many people who don’t believe in scientific principles have begun to reject science by taking non scientific ideas and pretending that they are scientific. This misuse of science can also be seen in an article by Jonah Lehrer called The future of science is…art? In this article, Lehrer tries to argue for the inclusion of art into science and specifically states, “If we want answers to our most essential questions, then we will need to bridge our cultural divide. By heeding the wisdom of the arts, science can gain the kinds of new insights and perspectives that are the seeds of scientific progress.” When Lehrer says this he is trying to say that in the modern era science has answered all questions that it possibly could and that we’ve hit a dead end and the only way to keep making progress is to include art within science. While it seems that Jonah appreciates science and genuinely thinks the inclusion of art can genuinely help, he is still wrong in his thinking. Like Boslough described that people would reject science and want to change it, the second it looks like science has slowed it’s progress, Lehrer wants to change the process that’s been helping humans survive for thousands of years. Simply speaking science is something that we as a human race cannot lose faith in, for it has helped us in the past and will continue to help us in the future as long as we do not try to change it.

While Yo Yo Ma may believe that STEAM is the best way to give our youth a proper education, I disagree. There are many complications that may surface when trying to change a curriculum. Many schools have to completely adjust the way they tech entirely, between changing teachers, choosing which subjects are mandatory, and supplying the kids with the proper tools to lean. Honestly, art is not something pressing enough that all these troubles need to be addressed. Art is also something that is subjectively useful, whereas you can’t say for sure that it will help every student. Art is a subject that many people are naturally inclined to, so implementing it as mandatory would be unfair to those who aren’t artistically strong. Not to mention art is a subject that requires much more funding than schools can afford due to the supplies needed. Honestly STEM is an effective way to teach children and doesn’t need to be changed.

The essay was originally published in an online magazine, World-Post, which features people like Elon Musk, Tony Blair, and Eric Schmidt. The writer of the essay is Yo Yo Ma, a cellist and songwriter, who is known for winning many awards for his musical performances, including 17 grammies. His biography gives light as to why he’s such an advocate for art. My purpose in reading this is specifically related in the fact that I’m learning STEM subjects now. Yo Yo Ma is intending to make the audience aware that art has a equally vital part in teaching youth how to learn as math and science.

3 Words:

Integrative Awareness- innately human set of skills for healing and wholeness through movement, touch, enhanced awareness and changes of consciousness, used to describe how art can affect thinking

Lewd – crude and offensive in a sexual way, used to describe a dance

Virtuosos-person who has an extreme talent or skill, used to describe preformers