Preference vs. Objectiveness

Preference vs. Objectiveness 

People naturally judge everything. They judge the appearances of other people, how good food is, who the best football team is, and so on. People have an opinion for pretty much everything. The question is, how can it be determined who is right and who is wrong? Humans can be very opinionated. What is appealing to one person might not be appealing to someone else. One person might prefer girls who are tall and slim and another might prefer girls who are short and curvy. One person might prefer mexican food and another might prefer italian food. There are some things that are just based on culture or how a person was raised, food for example. In fact, many opinions people have are based on how they were raised. However, if everything were up to the opinions of man, there would be chaos. There needs to be a standard. There is an objective beauty, and there are degrees of beauty as well. But how can there be an objective beauty standard and still be different opinions of beauty? If a person has a “wrong” opinion of beauty, is something wrong with him? Nonetheless, although humans have different preferences and opinions, there is an objectiveness in regards to beauty.

Although “tableness” is an unfamiliar word, it helps in describing degrees of perfection and what perfection is. Beauty is perfection. Imagine there is a perfect table in Heaven, this is the ideal table created by God. This table is perfection and the most beautiful table. Now, every table is modeled after this one, they all have four legs and a flat surface. However, the closer a table is to the “perfect table,” the more beautiful table it is. This is where degrees of perfection or beauty come in. The table’s “tableness” determines how beautiful it is. A table is more simple and easier to determine its closeness to perfection, but how would one be able to determine what is the ideal perfect woman? Is there a perfect woman in Heaven and every woman is judged based on how similar she is to the ideal woman? Perfection can also be determined to how mathematically symmetrical something is. How symmetrical a woman’s face is, the more beautiful she is. In order to have beauty standard, there needs to be something to look to. A woman’s beauty is judged based on how close she is to the perfect symmetrical woman. 

Is there something wrong with someone if their opinions do not align with the standard? Why do some opinions of beauty go against the beauty standard? Take art work for example. One person might like the artwork of Jason Pollock, who works with splatter paint, and one person might like the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa has more objective beauty than the work of Pollock; however, why wouldn’t everyone automatically favor the Mona Lisa over the Jason Pollock? This is the difference in taste. Taste is someone’s personal preference. Burke is reluctant to define taste; however, he ends up giving a definition to further his point. “I mean by the word Taste no more than the faculty, or those faculties of the mind which are affected with, or which form a judgement of the works of imagination and the elegant arts” (14). Someone might initially prefer the work of Pollock than the Mona Lisa, but which work would be better for his soul? It is in favor for someone to strive after things which are beautiful. Can someone’s taste be changed? If someone wants to strive after things which are beautiful and perfect, they need to spend more time with things that are perfect. They can still enjoy the artwork of Pollock, but it would be beneficial for them to focus more on the Mona Lisa. This also can relate to music. If someone really likes bluegrass music, they can still enjoy it; however, it would be beneficial for them to focus themselves on classical music. How can preference and objectiveness coexist? As previously stated, humans can be very opinionated. Culture and the way people are raised can have a great affect on their preferences. Everyone has opinions, however, if someone wants to strive for perfection, they need to spend time with things that are as close to perfection as they can be. Humans have a taste, but they need to have an aquired taste for that which is perfect and beautiful. 

Why does perfection and beauty matter? Because striving for perfection is beneficial for the soul. Back to the “tableness” example, the perfect table is in Heaven, created by God. Everything is judged based on how close it is to the perfect or idea table in Heaven. The degrees of beauty are how close to perfection the thing is. If we want to strive for perfection, we need to be as close to the standard as we can. If we prefer things that are not close to perfection, we can still enjoy those things, but those things are not beneficial to the soul. The Bible even discusses striving perfection. Christians try to model their lives after Christ. Christ was perfect and never sinned on this Earth. Even though humans are imperfect, Christians still try to be as close to Christ and as close to perfection as they can. Just like humans may have preferences that are not aligned with the beauty standard, Christians might want to do things that are not aligned with Christ. They must focus themselves on the things that will bring them as close to perfection as possible. Although humans have different preferences and opinions, there is an objectiveness in regards to beauty.