RE: Spotlight Writing Contest #1 = "THE TRAP OF BEAUTY" (Original Article)
You call for a "universal" standard of "beauty" to be defined, yet seem to declare that beauty is just preference. Standard for beauty is somewhat objective, as various cultures tend to agree to certain traits in women to be desirable. You may be describing human tendency to prioritize certain traits over others, resulting in somewhat specialized development of traits in various human societies, but even in local criteria, there is consistency in selecting some traits to be desirable over other traits.
Without a definition of "beauty," all is individual preference and the objective measure of "beauty" is lost. To say all people are beautiful is the same as stating all people are ugly. We do need clearly defined ideas, words, and concepts to discuss reality. I will leave with the following quote:
Thoughts without content are empty; intuitions without concepts are blind. (Immanuel Kant)
By refusing to define beauty, you rely solely on intuition/opinion without concept.
Thanks for your comment.
I cleared it that what I mean to say is that beauty is just a preference because there is no standard definition of it. You said that
well again, you said on the basis of "CULTURES" or "LOCAL CRITERIA". That is again based on perception no? I understand you are saying it on the basis of majority, but if what majority does or feels is true, then everything the society expect from us would be reasonable and sensible, but its not.
To say all people are beautiful - means to find the beauty in everything as per my article. Obviously if people will search for the ugly then they will find the ugly in everything !! That again means its all about perspective so better it be good instead of bad.
I am refusing to define beauty so that we can learn to look for beauty and appreciate it, so that people don't judge on the basis of their opinions but instead know that beauty is already there and we just need to find it.
Actually, above statement is incorrect. To say all people are beautiful means no one is beautiful. What you are advocating is creating a society of monochrome monotony without any standards or reference.
@Alexander.alexis wrote a well-written post regarding the need for standards on the following post:
https://steemit.com/philosophy/@alexander.alexis/i-am-therefore-i-harm
By "refusing" to define beauty, you are negating appreciation not enhancing appreciation of beauty.