Beauty is considered as a trait residing in something we find appealing to our visual senses. It is a highly esteemed characteristic which we confer upon an object only after comparing its characteristics to our own perceptions of what we understand of beauty. It is something that exists and thrives, even before we remark upon it, and it is an attribute that many people strive for. A case from Ancient Greek Mythology, which reflects on the topic of subjective beauty, is the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. This incident touches on the subject of perspective and true beauty.

Pygmalion was the king of Cyprus, and a skilled sculptor, who had aversion to mortal women due to their flaws. Despite his dismissal, he sculpted a statue of a woman who appeared flawless before his eyes. He named her Galatea. Firstly, not only does this insinuate that despite Pygmalion’s understanding of all mortal women to be flawed, him creating a woman that appealed perfectly to him shows that he had biased beauty standards, which may have been unrealistic. It also depicts that only a woman with certain characteristics was attractive to him, further strengthening the idea that beauty is subjective, as it lied only in the eyes of the beholder.

Pygmalion crafted the statue so lifelike that he began to fall in love with it. Desperate for union with this woman he had created, he prayed endlessly to the goddess of love, Aphrodite, who in return turned the statue into a living woman. This shows how Pygmalion’s love transcended the boundaries between art and life, and his own ideas of perfection, embodied in his statue, appeared unflawed to him, which might have appeared unappealing to another set of eyes.

It is imperative to understand that culture, religion, background, exposure, influence, et cetera, can deeply impact one’s understanding of beauty. A privileged black girl with little to no cultural roots who lives in the United States of America might not share the same conception of beauty with an underprivileged white girl who has deeper connections with her cultures in Europe. The topic of subjective beauty is far too deep to truly delve into, and merely scratching the surface of this deep-rooted ideology will not truly provide insight of the depth and complexity that one perceives as beauty. Social constructs, psycho-emotional factors, and emotional connection also change one’s evaluation of beauty to better suit their interests. Biases provide a vessel to channel one’s artistic expression by calling something beautiful and condemning the other ugly. These are terms that, if looked at in pure depth, have no solid or concrete meaning other than the fantastical, self satisfying definition every individual provides for it, further implying the existence of subjective beauty. People define beauty as ‘available in all shapes, sizes, colours, and backgrounds,’ but this is a facade or rather, an excellent metaphor which would insinuate that beauty is available in whatever form one wishes it, only if one would broaden their mind from subjective beauty, and accept all as beautiful, or completely obliterate the idea of beauty at all, since all is equal and beautiful.

Platforms like social media, and or toxic advocacy have begun to push deliberate ideas and standards into the minds of the young and vulnerable of a type of beauty that may be accepted universally, and that must be attractive to all. Promoted body shapes, or promoted entitlements of beauty; widespread hatred or resentment against a particular characteristic pose a probability of an idea of beauty being accepted universally, although many activists, realists, and philosophers are now battling this mindset by pushing once again, ‘all is beautiful.’

Beauty can be identified as an intangible quality that inheres in a thing. Let us take an example of tangible qualities. I see a red rose. It has qualities like having petals, thorns, fragrance, size and colour. These qualities can be experienced by our senses (touch, smell, sight, and taste). Which sense organ has the ability to identify beauty in the flower? Can we point out the quality of beauty like how we can point out the shape or colour of a flower? By principle, we are unable to do so.

Are things and objects still beautiful when we are not observing it? For example, you see a beautiful waterfall on your trip to Bali. While you reminisce about the trip and your experience of the waterfall, do we not continually consider the waterfall beautiful? Then we can conclude that the waterfall is beautiful at all times. Beauty can be seen as a universal principle that manifests in certain objects.

This makes the problem of beauty a complex philosophical question. To conclude, beauty is a trait that is believed to encompass all other characteristics of an object, or a living being. People often attempt to find the beauty in things, even in habits or practices, and this subjection undisputedly varies eye to eye, through one’s moral upbringing, or their exposure to different identities and persons throughout their lifetime, leading them to adopt their own general idea of beauty. Pygmalion crafted a woman he found utterly flawless based on his perceptions of beauty and allure, and Aphrodite granted it real. For others, it isn’t really that simple to define their understanding of that abstract philosophy, but we witness it in our day-to-day interactions and choices.