Limited Objectivity in Regard to Beauty

As someone who (rather pretentiously) claims to be an artist, I find myself wishing that beauty is a real property of objects rather than a subjective quality because it will allow me to weather criticism more easily. If someone finds my particular artwork distasteful, I could point to its presumed real status as a beautiful entity and not have to lend equal credence to each viewer’s perspective, only to the ones which corresponded to the artwork’s actuality. However, it appears that unless we find some sort of “beauty particle” which imbues objects with objective beauty, all arguments I have heard in favor of such an idea fall short. That’s not to say that one can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that beauty is only subjective. A rational person would not claim that because people’s opinions of something differ, there is no truth of the matter. Say that there is a car crash. One person says the red car cut the black car off. Another says that the black car failed to yield. Regardless of the opinions, there was an actual event which sparked these different viewpoints. The same could be true of beauty, but because of our limited perspective we can’t know this.

Working within our epistemological limits though, the question becomes “given that beauty appears not to be a quality of objects, only a perceived one, from what does this perception arise?” It appears that the subject which views the object projects beauty onto it, and thus beauty resides originally in the subject. Is this concept of beauty inherited or learned? Do different concepts of beauty reflect differences in culture or in genetics? Could it be a combination of the two? Perhaps more importantly, because of these differences or in spite of them, are there situations where it is appropriate to value one person’s concept of beauty above another’s?

While it is clear that we inherit certain concepts of beauty genetically, for example, physical indications of sexual fitness (engorged breasts, wide hips, signs of healthy levels of testosterone such as facial or chest hair), it is likewise clear that we learn certain concepts of beauty. Identical twins raised in separate households come to value different kinds of music, inevitably influenced by the micro-cultures of their adolescent friend groups. Referring back to the earlier question, within these genetic or cultural groups, can one concept of beauty be more objectively correct? Among a cross-section of heterosexual females, would the genetically defined objective definition of beauty in a male be a V shaped, muscular torso? Among teens who subscribe to a “gangsta-rap” music subculture, would the overtly defined cultural definition of the more beautiful rhyme be that one which most vindictively berates law enforcement? Couldn’t people within these groups point to the rules of genetics and culture to claim a limited objectivity? With this in mind, could I, as an artist within a defined genre, make the substantiated claim that my artwork, by adhering most accurately to the standards of beauty within my genre, is more beautiful than another artwork within the same genre?