Can Science Lead to an Understanding of Beauty?

Leonardo, Vol. 7, pp. 61-64. Pergamon Press 1974. Printed in Great Britain CAN SCIENCE LEAD TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF BEAUTY?* dean Chaguibotr** I. INTRODUCTION It is well known that ever since prehistoric times human beings have exhibited the need to make images. It appears that cultures that have left behind no pictorial representations engraved on stone are exceptional. Decorations and everyday objects from several thousand years ago reveal a keen sense of harmony of form and an awareness of aesthetic qualities. Artistic expression develops in a manner similar to other psychological manifestations of human beings. Finding methods for analyzing the relationship of individuals to art is not simple. How can deep and personal aesthetic emotions be studied in a scientific (i.e. objective and rational) manner? Presentday scientificinstruments seem rather incompatible with the spontaneity and intuition inherent in art matters, somewhat as bulldozers would be for analyzing a field of daisies. There has been a great deal of research in this field, nevertheless. The discussion that follows outlines typical work that has been done. This is intended to reveal both the advances made and the areas that have resisted clarification. It should be recognized that psychologists have not been able to gain access to the hean of the matter, even of aesthetic contemplation. They can use only intuition, not knowledge, to interpret the emotion a person feels when viewing a work of art. Perhaps in the future psychophysiologists will be able to locate in the brain a region of grey matter that accommodates this particular activity. It is known that the region called the rhinencephalon, which at one time had been thought to be concerned entirely with the sense of smell, is also considered to be the center of emotivity. It is not inconceivable that some day a nucleus of 'artistic' cells will be discovered, even if now there is little justification for believingin their existence. *Abridged version of the article in Psychologie (Paris), p, 31 (No. 20, Sept. 1971). Published with permission. Copyright © 1971by Centre d'Etude et de Promotion de la Lecture, Paris, France. (Received 1 Oct. 1971.) (Original in French.) **Psychologist living at 94 rue du Temple, 75003-Paris, France. 61 II. ON THE MEASUREMENT OF EMOTIONS As it is not possible for a researcher to insert himself into the heads of the persons he studies, the most simple and unsophisticated way to proceed still is to ask people for their impressions. A study that revealed as much poetry as scientific information resulted from an interview of about 2,000 English and American children from fiveto thirteen years of ageon the most beautiful thing that they had ever seen [1]. The importance of the change of taste with age was demonstrated in this study. For the five- or six-year-olds, 'sublime' subjects, such as sunsets, the sea and rainbows, were evoked by only 4%of their number, against 30% in the case of 'ordinary' subjects (such as pink and white Devonshire icecream ). At thirteen years of age the emphasis changed; the proportions were 49% and 10%, respectively. This tends to prove that, parallel to the development of intellectual functions, a particular sense asserts itself that can be called a taste for beauty, which allows children to contemplate things aesthetically. Such a procedure, however, lacks sublety in giving a precise measure of the development of taste. It is not possible to know whether the word 'beauty' is understood in the same way at six and at thirteen years of age. Does the seven-year-olddescribinghis dog feelan emotion comparable with a child of twelve going into ecstasies over a pond covered with water lilies? Are the replies to the question 'What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen' really all of the same kind and do they really refer to an aesthetic sense? Nothing in the manner in which this research was conducted leads us to believethis to be so. The actual feelingof an individual is verydifficult, if not impossible, to determine. In the use of simple spoken verbal replies, particularly in the psychology of art, a reference system is applied that is difficult to control. Does the word 'beautiful' really have a unique...