Kant's View On Beauty

When we often think of beauty we may think of flowers, sunsets, models, or maybe food. But what in our mind tells us something is beautiful? Is it the appearance? How it makes us feel? Philosophers have asked these questions to themselves throughout the centuries. Three to note are Socrates, Plato, and Kant. Each Philosopher has their own specific viewpoint on the perception of beauty, but who is correct?
One of the oldest philosophers to date is Socrates. Socrates had a very narrow minded, specific view of beauty. He had a twisted idea that people may seem, appear, or act as beautiful, but truly are not. Basically, he believed beauty was an illusion. He considered direct experience unreliable, and physical beauty untrustworthy. Strangely, he thought that beauty was only from a
Immanuel Kant wrote several works. One not often noted, and focusing on beauty, is his piece “Critique of Aesthetic Judgment.” In his writings, Kant analyzes the experiences of beauty and asks many detailed questions of how judging beauty is possible. He notes how judging beauty is different than other types of judgments: for example making a wise decision. Kant suggest that how we judge beauty is not entirely subjective or objective. He says people experience complete disagreement towards things, making mutual agreement impossible. Furthermore when we have objective standards, not everyone will be satisfied. For example, imagine the leaves when they turn different colors in the Fall. This is a determinate judgment. Put simply there are different colored trees. However, when your mind freely thinks about this concept, it becomes an aesthetic experience. You are imagining different things, moments, or words that relate you to the leaves on the tree. Kant believes this theory is important to daily decisions we make in accord with what we perceive and enjoy with our