Peter Holmes wrote: ↑Fri Sep 20, 2024 9:13 am
2 Note: 'the definition of beauty itself is subjective'. Question: does 'itself' here modify 'beauty' - implying that beauty is a thing-in-itself? Or does it modify 'the definition of beauty' - with complicated implications for the nature and purpose of the definition of a supposed abstract thing - viz, beauty? Question: is what we call beauty a thing that can be described - or reified - or objectified in the form of, eg, a human body?
The intended point refers to,
Objectification:
the expression of something abstract in a concrete form.
"the objectification of images may be astonishingly vivid in dreams"
Your thinking is too narrow, shallow and dogmatic in thinking that 'beauty' is solely 'subjective'.
Obviously the concept of 'beauty' and other abstract objects are not physical objects, but abstract objects are nevertheless a part and parcel of reality [all there is] as conditioned within the human physical self and consciousness.
Note this generally accepted view and remember it;
One difficulty in understanding beauty is that it has both objective and subjective aspects: it is seen as a property of things but also as depending on the emotional response of observers.
Because of its subjective side, beauty is said to be "in the eye of the beholder".[2]
It has been argued that the ability on the side of the subject needed to perceive and judge beauty, sometimes referred to as the "sense of taste", can be trained and that the verdicts of experts coincide in the long run. This suggests the standards of validity of judgments of beauty are
intersubjective, i.e. dependent on a group of judges, rather than fully subjective or objective.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty
Intersubjective means independent from a subject[s] opinion, beliefs and judgment which is aka 'objective' as defined.
Do you have a counter against the above from WIKI?
What is 'beauty' also has its corresponding physical neural correlates in the brain and body. In this perspective, beauty is physical and objective just like emotions, hunger, sexuality and the like.
It is from the above 'beauty' can be objectified when processed via a beauty FSERC, e.g. the Miss Universe competition constitution and rules based on intersubjective consensus.
Thus, your thinking is too narrow, shallow and dogmatic.