Thank you, Arjun Sambhi, for another great question. The natural world is undeniably beautiful. Aesthetically, we appraise majestic mountains as sublime, admire crepuscular rays from a crimson sunset, and appreciate the sound of waves crashing against the rocks. These features of nature are inherently beautiful. By ‘inherently beautiful’, I mean objectively beautiful, which is to […]
Thank you, Arjun Sambhi, for this interesting question. I want to argue that diamonds are intrinsically valuable because they are intrinsically beautiful and resistant to change, both of which are intrinsically valuable properties. Let’s start with beauty. Beauty is an intrinsically valuable property. To see this, consider two worlds that are identical in all respects,
Do diamonds have intrinsic value? Read More
Thank you, Eoin Martin, for this lovely question! There are lots of ways you could go about tackling it. I want to look a bit closer at the central concept: attractiveness. In my answer, I will be talking about how attractiveness works, what plays a role in determining how attractive someone is, in the hope
Are men or women more attractive? Read More
Thank you, Darlan Campos, for an interesting question! Beauty is usually deemed to be a superficial virtue in light of the fact that it is rarely everlasting and only gives rise to but an instance of aesthetic pleasure. The experience of beauty is incredibly short and seems to have no long-lasting effect. Natural beauty always
