X CLOSE

Beauty and aesthetics

A man wearing glasses and a brown jacket who is Charlie Watts playing drums in a TV studio.

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

A young man turns his head with his hand to reveal a unique gold ear accessory.

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

Two people view a famous painting in a gallery; it’s the Mona Lisa in an ornate frame.

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

Painting of hunters and dogs in snowy landscape with a village and ice skaters in the background, trees and hills visible.

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

Photo of a person standing by a mountain lake with a bench nearby, surrounded by lush green mountains under a clear sky.

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

Photo of a dark ocean at night with two lightning strikes illuminating the cloudy sky.

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

A gymnast in a purple leotard mid-performance, captured with a motion blur effect, showing multiple overlapping images of her movement.

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

Photo of a man admiring a large stained glass artwork with vibrant blue and yellow hues depicting various figures and animals.

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

Photo of a person in colourful leggings lifting a dumbbell while wearing a digital watch, another hand on their leg.

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

A painting of a man and woman holding hands indoors with a small dog at their feet. The room is richly decorated.

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

Two women seen from behind seated on a bench viewing a large four-panel painting of a cloudy sky in an art gallery.

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

Painting of a garden with vibrant flowers and a house in the background under a cloudy sky. A person stands near a fence.

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