The text discusses the concept of beauty, questioning whether the world was made beautiful according to human perception or vice versa. It emphasizes that genuine beauty is stable and based on proportional reasoning, even if not always recognized due to lack of knowledge. It concludes that beauty has an intrinsic essence, similar to mathematical truth, independent of personal perception.
Beauty of Human Figures.
When one says that God has made the world beautiful, one must necessarily decide whether God shaped the world according to the senses and eyes of humans, or the eyes and senses of humans according to the world. We acknowledge that when beauty is only viewed in certain respects or aspects, considering how things are interrelated and noting that many aspects depend on the various senses of humans, which are often based on foolish and unfounded fantasies; philosophers largely agree on this. However, in general, genuine beauty does not truly exist in this way, particularly not in terms that rely largely on fixed reasoning and proportional composition of the parts to the whole. Even if such beauty appears unattractive to the observer due to lack of knowledge and judgment, it remains authentic in itself; just as a mathematical truth rests on its own truth, and remains indisputable, even if someone cannot see or understand it. This means we may rightfully ask: does not the shape depend inseparably on its cause? Knowing well that our eyes and senses are not the cause of the appearance of an object, but rather the object is the cause of appearance; hence, our eyes as tools of sight are merely passive to receive whatever their condition allows: and therefore it can be established that there is a certain beauty.
Translation Notes:
- "Schoonheyd": Beauty.
- "Zinnelijkheden": Senses.
- "Wijsgeeren": Philosophers.
- "Oorfaak" and "gewrogte": Cause and shape, used to describe the relationship between perception and reality.