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Aesthetic relativism

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Aesthetic relativism is the philosophical view that the judgement of beauty is relative to different
individuals and/or cultures and that there are no universal criteria of beauty. For example, in
historical terms, the female form as depicted in the Venus of Willendorf and the women in the
paintings of Rubens would today be regarded as over-weight, while the slim models on the covers of
contemporary fashion magazines would no doubt be regarded in a negative light by our
predecessors. In contemporary (cross-cultural) terms, body modification among "primitive" peoples
is sometimes regarded as grotesque by Western society.

Aesthetic relativism might be regarded as a sub-set of an overall philosophical relativism, which

denies any absolute standards of truth or morality as well as of aesthetic judgement. (A frequently-
cited source for philosophical relativism in postmodern theory is a fragment by Nietzsche, entitled
"On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense.")

Aesthetic relativism is a variety of the philosophy known generally as relativism, which casts doubt
on the possibility of direct epistemic access to the "external world", and which therefore rejects the
positive claim that statements made about the external world can be known to be objectively true.
Other varieties of relativism include cognitive relativism (the general claim that all truth and
knowledge is relative) and Ethical Relativism (the claim that moral judgments are relative). Aesthetic
and Ethical relativism are sub-categories of Cognitive Relativism. Philosophers who have been
influential in relativist thinking include David Hume, particularly his "radical scepticism" as set out in
A Treatise of Human Nature; Thomas Kuhn, with regard to the history and philosophy of science, and
particularly his work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions; Friedrich Nietzsche, in moral philosophy
and epistemology; and Richard Rorty, on the contingency of language.

Philosophers who have given influential objectivist accounts include Plato, and in particular his
Theory of the Forms; Immanuel Kant, who argued that the judgment of beauty, despite being
subjective, is a universally practiced function of the mind; Noam Chomsky, whose "nativist" theory of
linguistics argues for a universal grammar (i.e., that language is not as contingent as relativists have
argued that it is).

The most prominent philosophical opponent of aesthetic relativism was Immanuel Kant, who argued
that the judgment of beauty, while subjective, is universal.

Recent experiments in psychology seem to contradict aesthetic relativism. In studies of facial

attractiveness there seems to be wide cross-cultural agreement as to what constitutes beauty in the
human face. Whether this is down to symmetry or averageness is a matter of disagreement. Studies
with infants, presumably too young to have been socialised, have shown that they consistently
prefer the kinds of faces which adults judge to be "attractive" (Van Duuren, Kendell-Scott, & Stark,
2003; Langlois, Ritter, Roggman, & Vaughn, 1991; Samuels, Butterworth, Roberts, Grauper, & Hole,
1994; Samuels & Ewy, 1985; Slater, Bremner, Johnson, Sherwood, Hayes, & Brown, 2000) The
judgement of beauty may be hard-wired in human beings, possibly fulfilling an evolutionary role.

At the same time, the dominant media-generated image in terms of facial structure, body shape and
hair colour is that associated with northern Europeans. Furthermore, it should be noted that the
fashion for darker skin among white people is of relatively recent origin, coinciding with the fashion
among the upper classes for sun-holidays in the early twentieth century.

In some cases, common sense may appear to suggest that aesthetic relativism is false. There is
widespread agreement—at least among the "informed" and "educated" public—as to the aesthetic
value of individual works of architecture, painting, music, etc. The question whether or not such
agreement pre-exists social conditioning is an ongoing one, and mirrors the broader nature versus
nurture debate within the social sciences, and within science and philosophy in general. (For
example, an informed and educated public might have been informed and educated in different
ways, and their tastes might then have been quite divergent.) The extent to which taste might be
explained in fundamentally sociological as distinct from aesthetic terms, is a matter of ongoing
debate.

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In sexual choices

Aesthetic relativism is common in the social sciences and in feminist thought. "Beauty" is regarded
as a social construct rather than as fulfilling a natural function (e.g. in terms of sexual attraction and
reproduction). For example, the tendency to cultural tolerance of signs of ageing such as gray hair
and wrinkled skin in men, to a greater extent than in women, is seen by some as culturally
determined. This view, however, ignores the fact that the age-span for reproduction is markedly
different in the two sexes, and consequently the criteria for aesthetic (sexual) attraction may be
correspondingly different. (On the other hand, men as well as women are under increasing pressure
to conform to what some might argue is a media-determined ideal of a youthful appearance.)

On the relationship between aesthetics, sexual attraction and reproduction see Arthur
Schopenhauer "On the Metaphysics of the Love of the Sexes", in his major work The World as Will
and Representation / die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung. For Schopenhauer, the criteria for sexual
attraction are (in women from the perspective of men) beauty, youth and health; and (in men from
the perspective of women) status, strength and wealth. This is because these are believed to be the
optimal conditions for the reproduction of the species: the well-being of the potential offspring is
always the key concern, although one or both of the partners may be quite unconscious of this.

References

A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy

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