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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 viewing the Mona Lisa painting in an ornate frame, displayed against a dark wall in a gallery.

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 with dogs walking through a snowy village; people skate on a frozen lake in the background, and a small group warms by a fire.

Philosophy of art

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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

Person standing by a lake with mountains in the background, next to an empty bench.

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

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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

An elderly man admires a vibrant blue stained glass artwork depicting abstract figures, animals, and scenes.

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

Close-up of two women in colourful gym wear, one wearing a blue watch, the other lifting a dumbbell, both with manicured nails.

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

Philosophy of art

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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

A painting of a vibrant garden with red and white flowers, greenery, a two-story house in the background, and two figures 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