The TED talk with speaker Denis Dutton covers his ideas on the complexity of beauty; how we understand it, and why we all call something beautiful. He mentions in the first minute how it is such a difficult concept to understand, because of the vast variety of beauty, “from a babies face to a central California landscape” these are all things people see as beautiful (0:50).

Dutton uses Charles Darwin’s theories to divulge his concept of how our ancient ancestors are the ones who instilled our powerful reaction to art, music, and any type of image or entertainment. He does not believe that “beauty lies in the eye of the beholder”, but rather that we find beauty in something done well, and this is found not from a cultural background, but it is found amongst all humans of all cultures, meaning that this concept of finding beauty in something done well will stay “as long as the human race exists” (16:40). He argues that both artistic and natural beauty are not cultural – and uses the example of not cave paintings from 32,000 years ago being the first forms of art, but the hand axes that have no evidence of wear or use, and were once considered a practical appliance but are considered a showpiece, or what we would consider art (10:40-12:00).

I have never thought about what my definition of beauty is, but after Dutton states it as “something done well”, I began listing in my head things that I find beauty in. I would have to agree that something done well is probably the simplest but truest reason why a person considers something beautiful. This concept is universal, and includes people of all backgrounds. What a person sees as well done varies, but not the reasons why they consider it beautiful.

What does one consider as “well done”? For me I think of it as an object or experience that someone put extensive effort and passion into, and something that is nice to look at or hear (whether that be symmetrical, clean, neat, pleasing voice/looks, etc.), that is up to each individual to decide.