Philosophers on Beauty and the Self

Philosophers' Perspectives on Beauty

• St. Augustine questioned whether beauty was delightful or if delight was beautiful, concluding that beauty was the latter.
• He connected beauty to love and desire, saying beauty existed in realms of Forms rather than objects.
• Plato believed beauty existed in a realm of Forms, making objects beautiful as reflections of these Forms.
• Aristotle stated that order, symmetry, and definition (demonstrable by math) were chief forms of beauty.
• David Hume argued that beauty is subjective, existing only in the mind of the beholder. Different minds perceive different things as beautiful.
• Immanuel Kant said aesthetic judgments are subjective, not logical.
• Francis Hutcheson believed perceptions of beauty depend on external senses, but that an internal sense of beauty also exists.

Psychologists' Perspectives on the Physical Self

• William James saw the physical self as the source and maintenance of personal identity; tied to consciousness and soul.
• Sigmund Freud believed the physical self is the center of human experience, with the body ego as the development source for all egos.
• Wilhelm Reich saw mind and body as one, stating all psychological experiences are physical.
• Erik Erikson connected personal experiences and bodily organs to personal development in early life to build intellectual competence and social roles later in life.
• B.F. Skinner focused on the role the body plays in overt behavior.

Culture and Perception of Beauty

• Cultural traditions can positively or negatively influence perceptions of beauty and self-esteem.
• Standards of beauty vary across cultures.

Body Image and Self-Esteem

• Body image is how individuals perceive and feel about their bodies. Self-esteem is a person's overall worth.
• Body image impacts adolescents' physical and mental health, and is related to self-esteem.
• Appearance refers to outward physical attributes (e.g., height, weight, clothes).
• Poor body image is influenced by parental emphasis on the thin ideal and peer pressure.
• Media often portray ideal standards of attractiveness.
• Body dysmorphic disorder is a preoccupation with imagined physical flaws.

Eating Disorders

• Bulimia nervosa involves out-of-control eating followed by purging (e.g., vomiting or laxatives).
• Anorexia nervosa involves extreme restriction of food intake or excessive exercise to lose weight.
• Binge-eating disorder involves repeated binge eating, without purging behavior.

Sexual Self

• Human sexuality is complex and encompasses biological, social-cultural factors.
• WHO defines sexuality as a central human aspect encompassing sex, gender identity and roles, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy and reproduction.
• Gender identity is an individual’s sense of their own gender.
• Sexual orientation refers to whom a person is attracted to (physically, emotionally, or romantically).

Sexual Response Cycle

• The sexual response cycle has four phases: Excitement, Plateau, Orgasm, and Resolution.
• These phases involve physiological and psychological processes, experienced by both males and females. Erogenous zones are highly sensitive and often sexually exciting.

Understanding Hormones and Lust

• Lust is driven by testosterone in males and estrogen in females.
• Attraction is influenced by dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.
• Oxytocin and vasopressin are associated with attachment.

Consumer Culture and Material Self

• The material self includes all possessions, objects, or people someone sees as "their own."
• Possessions can be a status symbol.
• Consumer culture is associated with materialism (the importance of material possessions.)
• Material possessions can reflect hard work and success.
• The opposite of materialism could possibly lead to mental health issues and psychological distress.

Spiritual Self

• Spirituality is about searching for something sacred or a connection to a higher power or the universe.
• Spirituality and religiosity are different.
• Religiosity is organized belief.
• Religion has organization, beliefs, rituals, and experience. Spirituality is more personal.

Political Self

• Politics involves making decisions in groups or other kinds of power relationships.
• Family and social hierarchies influence the concept of a political self.
• The political self is a part of one's self-concept..

Digital Self

• Digital self is the online persona/image.
• Self-presentation online.
• Online identity is constructed differently from real-life identity.
• Digital identities are malleable compared to real-world forms.

Causes of Online Disinhibition

• The characteristics of online interaction can contribute to disinhibition (lack of restraint).
• Online interactions may have less accountability/responsibility.
• Online identity might be different from real-life identity.

Self-Presentation Strategies

• Self-presentation involves managing how others perceive us, including online. Strategies include exemplification, supplication, intimidation, self-promotion, ingratiation.
• In terms of self-presentation, there are motivations that are instrumental (to gain rewards/esteem ) and expressive (to demonstrate identity, values, preferences).