True Beauty

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5938020
AutoresRyan P Doran (0000-0003-3986-4693, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge , Cambridge, UK; Department of Philosophy, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, autor correspondente)
Ano2025
Data de publicação2025-10-24
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe British Journal of Aesthetics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0007-0904 • E-ISSN: 1468-2842
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/aesthj/ayae024
OpenAlexW4415536678
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas44

What is the nature of the concept beauty? Does it differ fundamentally from nearby concepts such as prettiness? It is argued here that beauty, but not prettiness, is a dual-character concept. Across a number of contexts, it is proposed that beauty has descriptive senses that refer to, inter alia, having intrinsically pleasing appearances, and a normative sense associated with deeply held values. This account is supported across two, pre-registered, studies (N=500) and by drawing on analysis of corpus data. It is suggested that this can help to explain why beauty, unlike prettiness, is thought to be deep in both the sense of being important and in the sense of being less closely tied to sensory surfaces

Aesthetic Perception and Analysis · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment