Discussion Group – September/October 2025

The Discussion Group met on 17th September to explore an unusual topic, “Beauty”. We argued whether beauty was conceptualised before the Romantic age and whether our understanding of it was largely shaped by 19th century ideas. Monuments created before that time were created for the glory of gods or to enhance status, whether they were designed on an exalted or a human scale.

We asked ourselves if other species perceived beauty in nature and agreed that humans were the ones who tried to impose shapes on the environment, probably because our brains are wired to codify and recognise predetermined proportions and outlines, such as the shape of a human baby’s head, or patterns like the Fibonacci sequence and the golden rectangle, which govern natural arrangement.

We also touched on the perception of music and considered associations of sound and light which make some people see notes as colours or translate audio sequences into graphic images. We also talked about fashion and how it reflects a more transient idea of beauty, making our standards change at first with every generation and later with every season, yet fundamentally transitions from one accepted shape or combination to another. We did not have time to go into details regarding the visual arts or beauty in humans.

Our next meeting is scheduled for October 22nd and will be devoted to Free Speech.

As some of our members had to leave the group, we would welcome new people who like to chat about different topics.

Dana Dima, Convenor