Beauty Philosophy Essay Example

Elaine Scarry ultimately fails in her argument that beauty assists us towards social justice, as she overlooks the flaws of humanity and how beauty may also lead to injustice. Scarry does succeed in identifying the power of beauty and its numerous characteristics, but ultimately relies too heavily on the goodness of humanity, thus dismissing the selfishness and injustice that beauty may also bring. 

Scarry relies too heavily on the premise that beauty gives rise to fairness. Helen of Troy, the mythical face that launched a thousand ships, was deemed the most beautiful in her time. Her beauty lead to war and bloodshed, perhaps the stark opposite to justice. She ran away with the prince of Troy, and the Greeks, feeling entitled to her beauty, fought to get her back. Although a myth, the Trojan War began over beauty. We as humans oftentimes feel as though we deserve beautiful things. We steal artwork, pick flowers from gardens to keep only briefly before they whither away, or infringe on other people’s land for leisure and travel. In a perfect world, beauty is unselfish, and encourages a reciprocal pact of distribution and fairness, but we do not live in a perfect world.

Plato understands this reality, as he describes our physical world as changing, temporal, and imperfect. Our senses are inherently defective. What we see and how we interpret it is influenced by our fears, desires, and memories. How can we trust our judgement enough to state that beauty brings justice if we cannot even identify true beauty for ourselves? If I were asked if a beautiful mountain should be destroyed, I would answer no, as Scarry presumes. But if I were given the option for a beautiful mountain range to exist where I live or somewhere around the world I would never see, I would choose for it to exist where I live. Scarry never proposed that question, and thus overlooked that beauty can be selfish. People would rather experience beautiful things themselves rather than having other people experience them. Sure, we know that without beauty things would be dull and we would be profoundly deprived, but we would rather put that fate on another person than ourselves. Beauty can be selfish, it is something everyone wants and is willing to fight to have. 

Diotima describes beauty as leading to the conception of beautiful things, whether that be people or things. Scarry’s argument aligns here, with her perspective on how beauty invites ethical fairness through the act of creation. Scarry branches off of Diotima’s claims of beauty by introducing the concept of justice. She fails to recognize that justice is a possible side effect of beauty, not a guaranteed outcome. We do not create beauty in an attempt for justice, rather we are grasping at the concept of immortality and timelessness. Humans love the immortal. We worship gods, gaze at the stars, and carry on fables and stories throughout time. In the presence of something beautiful, we strive to keep it there forever and create beauty ourselves. Scarry is correct in her claim about beholders of beauty and their willingness to protect beautiful things and bring new beauty into the world. However, it is not an entirely selfless act, nor is it an innate longing for justice. In the realm of the temporary and fragile we strive for something to breach the metaphysical gap into the timeless and perfect intelligible realm. Beauty is that bridge, allowing us to create artwork and stories that will last longer than our physical bodies do. In this way, we are not being de-centered from our own universe as Scarry claims, we are attempting to create something that keeps us in the universe a little longer. 

Overall, Scarry provides a strong and persuasive argument, though she is looking at the world through rose colored glasses. Beauty can be selfless and lead us towards justice, but it can also be selfish and lead us towards injustice. Beauty is not one road that leads to goodness and perfection, rather it offers us countless pathways to choose between. Ultimately, what we do with beauty and how we perpetuate it is up to us. As we are flawed, so are the possible outcomes of beauty.