14. History of Aesthetics: Thomas Aquinas
The Conditions of Beauty
What exactly makes something beautiful? We often describe beauty in terms of how it makes us feel, but is there more to it than personal perception? For centuries, philosophers have sought to uncover whether beauty follows certain principles—patterns that make it more than just a matter of opinion.
In a previous article, I discussed Thomas Aquinas’s definition of beauty—beauty is that which pleases when seen. That ‘definition’ tends to focus on our relationship and the effect of beauty, but we still wonder what comprises the beautiful. So, Aquinas proposed three conditions (or formal criteria) of beauty: proportion, integrity, and radiance.
