THE ETHICAL AND EXISTENTIAL MEANING OF BEAUTY

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Authors: Juhani Pallasmaa
Cited by: 0

Abstract

Beauty and ethics, as well as their hidden relationships are, no doubt, unfashionable subjects in today's artistic and architectural discourse. During the modern era, the requirement for beauty has been replaced by the obsession with newness. Esthetic aspirations are primarily related to the world of the arts, architecture, design and styles, but beauty and elegance of thought are essential criteria also in mathematics, physics, and other sciences. Beauty is also a quality in mathematics and sciences. Art articulates and expresses the world of lived experiences, and it mediates the human mental essence of these very encounters and so does architecture. Every true work of art, including architecture, projects an entire world. This existential sense of the world, and its interaction with the self, are the most difficult and significant areas of learning for a creative person.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Ethics Aesthetics and Art Architecture Modernity and Design Art and Perception

Publication details

Pages
1–12
Publication date
30 January 2026
Language
EN