iThink
Has the mystique of beauty been destroyed by scientific development?
HAS THE MYSTIQUE OF BEAUTY BEEN DESTROYED BY SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT? JOE MARVIN (LOWER SIXTH) With religious belief being questioned and contradicted with a barrage of new scientific developments, many people are left wondering if there is anything that separates us from the other animals that inhabit our world. If a rapidly growing number of people no longer consider us to be built in God’s image and we are instead just a product of evolution, then what evidence is there to suggest we are superior or at the very least unique within the animal kingdom? When faced with this question, perhaps the most obvious response is to look at a human’s mental capabilities. Even the most militant atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, have admitted that they have struggled with the concept of human flourishing. Human flourishing can be described as anything that goes beyond the need to survive. Throughout human history, even before the rapid spread of Christianity and the belief in ‘imago dei’, it has been what separates us from our primitive ancestors, with the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle coining the term ‘eudaimonia’ which he believed was the secret to happiness.
Out of all aspects of human flourishing, the appreciation of beauty is one of the most mystifying and satisfying ideas because it appears impossible to define why we find things beautiful, yet there are things such as the ‘Mona Lisa’ or even the colour of somebody’s hair that are almost universally appreciated. So as more and more seemingly unanswerable questions have been conquered by scientific progress:
Will the fascination of beauty be able to withstand the onslaught of science? Well, science once again looks to have solved the dilemma. To explore how the appreciation of beauty is linked to natural selection and evolution I will first explore its effect in the animal kingdom. Let’s use the male peacock as our case study. Their burdensome and extravagant tails seem to conflict with the Darwinian idea of evolution as they doesn’t seem to be advantageous for the bird's survival.
07
2022
