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jessijoyb's review against another edition
The author comes across as a pretentious dick.
declanmj's review against another edition
I am torn on this one. Written with that typical Scruton style the book reads as little philosophy does. Scruton has this habit of writing with clear reason and justification for pages and pages and then out of nowhere, he will slip a couple of sentences of utterly unrelated points made without further justification (This often is where his own conservative attitudes are presented). I find this difficult as so often his opinions are presented as intuitive or common amongst humans when instead they appear to be his own particular attitudes. I still recommend this book to all who ask, however.
adamrshields's review against another edition
4.0
Summary: A brief introduction to what beauty is, why it is important and why we need to understand it.I listened to this on audiobook, which was fine, but may not have been the best choice. While this is part of the Very Short Introduction series, it is still a book that is ultimately philosophy. About 2/3 of the way through I picked up the kindle edition, both because I know I need to re-read the book, but also because Scruton was referencing a number of paintings and many of those are in the Kindle edition.
The pictures are black and white even in the kindle version, so the reader cannot really get a full sense of what is being shown, which does matter for a discussion of the artistry and beauty of the paintings, but it at least is a reference.
I have been wanting to read more about beauty for a while and consistently when I look around, Scruton’s book Beauty is recommended as one of the best introductions. The Very Short Introduction series is very uneven, but Beauty is an example of what all of the books should be like. He is not avoiding discussion of the academics, but the point of the book is to talk about the actual subject. A number of the other Very Short Introduction books I have read have been about the academic study of the subject, not the actual subject. I do not really want to read about what academics have argued about over African History, I actually wanted to understand something about African History.
Beauty is a philosophical account of beauty written for the layperson. It is still philosophy and I need to reread it. I have been introduced to a number of the ideas previously in the work of Makoto Fujimura, Brian Zahnd, NT Wright and others. But much of my reading has only briefly touched on the role of beauty, and mostly thought about it from a theological perspective. Scruton talks a surprising amount about the Christian conception of beauty historically and how that developed in the Western world, but he is not writing about theology.
This is still a mostly aesthetic conception, thinking about how we perceive beauty, how we think about beauty with regard to the human form, how erotic beauty is different from pornography, how beauty exists in form and nature, etc. I want to know that, but I also want to understand how beauty works in ideas, and functions, and community. But I do think that Scruton is right that we think of beauty first as visual pleasure and then we expand that idea to other subjects. Understanding how aesthetic beauty works allows us to understand how an idea might be beautiful.
originally posted on my blog at http://bookwi.se/beauty-by-roger-scruton/
hades9stages's review against another edition
2.0
unbearably masculinist. which is a shame because i was really looking forward to this
hiba1409's review against another edition
5.0
Beauty by Roger scruton talks about various aspects of beauty by mentioning the several opinions of philosophers ( kant, plato, Dickens..) and it's significance in human experience "in exploring beauty we're investigating the sentiments of people, rather than the deep structure of the world"
The book is full of interesting questions "*is the pleasure in beauty a sensory or an intellectual pleasure? But then, what is the difference between the two? The pleasure of a hot bath is sensory; the pleasure of a mathematical puzzle intellectual" , though not all of them are answered within it, it will make you form your own questions for example I wondered, is it possible to study beauty at all? How can we analyze something that varies from person to person, something that doesn't exist until someone forms an opinion and declares it beautiful?. And, despite the differences in what we perceive as beautiful, we all share the same feeling towards beautiful things.
it also talks about the relation between beauty and sexual desire " we cannot infer that the sentiment of beauty was necessary to the process of sexual selection", "Some argue that it is not beauty that prompts desire, but desire that summons beauty", on the other hand Plato argues that there's a base form of desire, which targets the body, and a higher form, which targets the soul.
the author sees the humane as rational being, a creature who does not merely think, feel and do, but who also has the questions: what to think, what to feel and what to do
additionally, it talks about *natural beauty*, "The experience of natural beauty is not a sense of ‘how nice!’ or ‘how pleasant!’ It contains a reassurance that this world is a right and fitting place to be—a home in which our human powers and prospects find confirmation" .
And the distinction between two kinds of meaning in art: representation and expression, giving as an example photography and painting
and the difference between pornography and erotic art " Pornography addresses a fantasy interest, while erotic art addresses an interest of the imagination" , "The purpose of pornography is to arouse vicarious desire; the purpose of erotic art is to portray the sexual desire of the people pictured within it"
I was about to give the book three Stars because it's hard to read and you should have a rich background in philosophy.. BUT after I wrote this review I'm going to give it 5 stars because it deserves it
one more quote :)
"real beauty can be found, even in what is seedy, painful and decayed. Our ability to tell the truth about our own condition, in measured words and touching melodies, offers a kind of redemption from it"
The book is full of interesting questions "*is the pleasure in beauty a sensory or an intellectual pleasure? But then, what is the difference between the two? The pleasure of a hot bath is sensory; the pleasure of a mathematical puzzle intellectual" , though not all of them are answered within it, it will make you form your own questions for example I wondered, is it possible to study beauty at all? How can we analyze something that varies from person to person, something that doesn't exist until someone forms an opinion and declares it beautiful?. And, despite the differences in what we perceive as beautiful, we all share the same feeling towards beautiful things.
it also talks about the relation between beauty and sexual desire " we cannot infer that the sentiment of beauty was necessary to the process of sexual selection", "Some argue that it is not beauty that prompts desire, but desire that summons beauty", on the other hand Plato argues that there's a base form of desire, which targets the body, and a higher form, which targets the soul.
the author sees the humane as rational being, a creature who does not merely think, feel and do, but who also has the questions: what to think, what to feel and what to do
additionally, it talks about *natural beauty*, "The experience of natural beauty is not a sense of ‘how nice!’ or ‘how pleasant!’ It contains a reassurance that this world is a right and fitting place to be—a home in which our human powers and prospects find confirmation" .
And the distinction between two kinds of meaning in art: representation and expression, giving as an example photography and painting
and the difference between pornography and erotic art " Pornography addresses a fantasy interest, while erotic art addresses an interest of the imagination" , "The purpose of pornography is to arouse vicarious desire; the purpose of erotic art is to portray the sexual desire of the people pictured within it"
I was about to give the book three Stars because it's hard to read and you should have a rich background in philosophy.. BUT after I wrote this review I'm going to give it 5 stars because it deserves it
one more quote :)
"real beauty can be found, even in what is seedy, painful and decayed. Our ability to tell the truth about our own condition, in measured words and touching melodies, offers a kind of redemption from it"