Plato had great difficulty in defining Beauty. If Beauty existed, he thought it must be capable of rational definition. He makes, in Greater Hippias, a pretty good case:
- The concept of Beauty cannot be separated from its medium.
- The quality of Beauty cannot be separated from its parts.
- Beauty is perceived by the individual.
- Beauty needs no purpose.
- Beauty can be perceived by any of the senses.
All these things can be described by the left-hemisphere, but it bothered Plato that not everyone agrees when it comes to an individual art object. In the end he complains, “All that is beautiful is difficult.”
Is there more to Beauty than left-hemisphere definition?
