Ms. Crandell
English 9
Philosophical Inquiry: What is Beauty?
Responses and Notes
Name_______________
Period ______
1. Alice Walker’s Memoir: “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self”
Reactions and Analysis:
A. What is the relationship between her perception of her own beauty and her self-confidence?
B. Notice the repeated line in this memoir; what does Walker’s use of parallel structure add to
her narrative?
C. Comment on Walker’s theme: How are we to deal with the physical flaws and imperfections
that form an essential part of who we are?
D. In the space below, quote a passage from Walker’s memoir that you consider the strongest
part of this piece of writing.
John Keats is a revered English poet whose short life spanned just 25 years. He was born October 31,
1795, in London, England. The son of a liveryman, he was thoroughly working class, not the sort
expected to have poetic aspirations. He was apprenticed in 1811 to an apothecary-surgeon, and passed
his examination in 1816. As one biographer puts it, he then went on vacation and returned a practicing
poet, writing a tremendous amount over the next three and a half years. He died of tuberculosis in Rome
in 1821.
Read the following two poetry excerpts by Keats and then respond below.
Excerpt 1:
Ode on a Grecian Urn (last lines)
by John Keats
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
Excerpt 2:
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness”
A. How can beauty and truth be the same thing when two people can disagree about
something being beautiful?
B. Many of the things we view as beautiful are ephemeral; that is, they are fleeting (such as a
sunset or a flower). So how can a thing of beauty be a joy forever?
Alain de Botton (born in 1969) is a Swiss-British writer. His books and television programs discuss
various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life.
Excerpts from The Architecture of Happiness and The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton
“While a common reaction to seeing a thing of beauty is to want to buy it, our real desire may be
not so much to own what we find beautiful as to lay permanent claim to the inner qualities it
embodies.
Owning such an object may help us realise our ambition of absorbing the virtues to which it
alludes, but we ought not to presume that those virtues will automatically or effortlessly begin to
rub off on us through tenure. Endeavouring to purchase something we think beautiful may in fact
be the most unimaginative way of dealing with the longing it excites in us, just as trying to sleep
with someone may be the bluntest response to a feeling of love.
What we seek, at the deepest level, is inwardly to resemble, rather than physically possess, the
objects and places that touch us through their beauty.”
“Beauty is a promise of happiness.”
“A dominant impulse on encountering beauty is to wish to hold on to it, to possess it and give it
weight in one’s life. There is an urge to say, ‘I was here, I saw this and it mattered to me.’”
A. Consider useful, well-designed things such as shoes and cars that could be described as
beautiful. If something is useful AND beautiful, how does this complicate de Botton’s ideas
about why we want to own beautiful things?
B. What does “beauty is a promise of happiness” mean to you?
David Hume (1711-1776) was a Scottish philosopher and historian.
Hume says that beauty is in the “eye of the beholder” when he states:
“Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates
them; and each mind perceives a different beauty. One person may even perceive deformity,
where another is sensible of beauty; and every individual ought to acquiesce in his own
sentiment, without pretending to regulate those of others.”
Hume admits that the ability to detect or experience beauty is fundamentally subjective, based
on personal feelings, tastes or opinions.
A. Do you agree with Hume that beauty exists only in the eye of the beholder? Explain.
Consider Cyrano de Bergerac’s view of beauty—find two lines or passages that deal with the
larger idea of beauty/love/poetry. These lines should be useful to you in your definition essay.
Hint: look at Cyrano’s philosophy of life on pp. 88-90 and his speech to Roxane on pp. 126131. Write them down in the space below, using MLA style to cite.