Beauty and aesthetics
Music
idea
True musical virtuosos are minimalists who put roll before rock
Musicians like Muddy Waters and Charlie Watts played fewer notes than showoffs like Jeff Beck, but they were the right ones
by Mike Edison
Technology and media
idea
Let’s use bold, beautiful hearing aids to celebrate deafness
Hearing aids have always been designed to be concealed, yet they’re a beautiful affirmation of deafness – and should be seen
by Jaipreet Virdi
Beauty and aesthetics
idea
What happens if we make the Mona Lisa more symmetrical?
The Golden Ratio and symmetry are two universal rules of beauty. The problem is they conflict with one another
by Manil Suri
Philosophy of art
idea
When art transports us, where do we actually go?
Artworks have the capacity to transport us into other worlds. But where exactly do we go when we are immersed in art?
by Harri Mäcklin
Compassion and empathy
idea
Empathy is, at heart, an aesthetic appreciation of the other
Empathy is an aesthetic practice that relies on our capacity to delight in, and respond with reverence to, the world around us
by Susan Lanzoni
The body and physical health
idea
Body positivity is fixated on beauty – here’s how to fix that
Body positivity is stuck in the shallow. We should move beyond beauty and towards health, pleasure and acceptance
by Céline Leboeuf
Thinking and intelligence
idea
Hula hooping is not mindless, it is bodily problem solving
There are surprising similarities in the way mathematicians do their work and the way hoop dancers devise new tricks
by Elina Vessonen
Wonder and the sublime
idea
Is the sublime a hopelessly old-fashioned Euro-Romantic ideal?
The sublime is not only for the Romantics, nor just about gender or overcoming nature. It’s in the thrills-and-chills of emotion
by Robert Clewis
Beauty and aesthetics
idea
Beauty is not an ornament to the good life, it is at its heart
Why does the hand want to draw what the eye sees as beautiful? Why do we respond to beauty by creating the beautiful?
by Nick Riggle
Beauty and aesthetics
idea
You can be aesthetically sensitive and know nothing about art
Aesthetic sensitivity is not about being correct in your judgments of beauty, but rather how much you’re affected by it
by Guido Corradi
Philosophy of art
idea
To master the art of close looking, learn to hold time still
Visual literacy is a skillset that’s rarely taught, but it begins with learning how to look – and how to hold time still
by Grace Linden
Beauty and aesthetics
idea
Gardening with Heidegger: from mystery to truth, via the earth
The garden as a source of authority beyond human wisdom – on Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of gardening for truth
by F Bailey Norwood