13. History of Aesthetics: Thomas Aquinas
Definition of Beauty
Ancient and Medieval philosophers sought to uncover the nature of everything. What is the essence of a tree? A dog? A bed? And a human being? But their search for essences went beyond physical objects and beings. They also sought the essence of abstract concepts, like truth, goodness, justice, and beauty. With these concepts, most philosophers found them to have their foundation outside of human minds, so it was up to us to discover what these concepts are, rather then creating our own definitions. So it was for beauty, and Thomas Aquinas wrote a few pithy ideas about beauty that are worth investigating.
Trying to reduce beauty to either its objective traits or the beholder’s subjective experience seems too simple. Neither the object nor the person’s response are complete in themselves. The precise nature of that relationship—between object and subject—is cause for discussion, but the fact of some kind of relationship seems indisputable, though some try to call it into question. Even for philosophers who are hailed as advocates of the objectivity of beauty, there is always present the importance of the experience or pleasure of the beholder. Thomas Aquinas embeds pleasure into his definition of beauty.
“…for beautiful things are those which please when seen.”
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, 5, 4.
