Beauty: objective definition

 To find an objective definition of "beauty":

1. Reduce the concept to its perceptual level roots and basic axioms/principles:

• Perceptual roots: Certain patterns, proportions, symmetries, colors, sounds, etc. that humans visually/auditorily perceive
• Basic axioms: The existence of an objective reality external to the mind. The senses provide valid information about this reality within the normal operations of a rational consciousness.

2. Identify additional intermediate steps/principles:

• Human neurological hardwiring that causes certain sensory inputs to trigger pleasurable responses
• Cultural influences that shape ideals of beauty over time
• The fact that judgments of beauty require focus, integration of sensory inputs, and conceptual processing

3. Identify essential/distinguishing characteristics:

• A positive aesthetic response/evaluation triggered by certain sensory inputs
• Often associated with proportion, harmony, complexity within simplicity
• Culturally-influenced ideals that are not purely arbitrary
• An assessment based on visual/auditory perception, not merely subjective whim

4. Tentative objective definition:
   Beauty is the positive aesthetic evaluation and pleasurable response triggered in a rational consciousness by the perception of certain patterns, proportions, complexities, harmonies, and other qualities that correspond to evolutionarily and culturally influenced neurological templates and ideals.

Does this meet criteria for an objective definition?

• It relates the concept to observable facts of reality (perception, neurology, evolution)
• It identifies the essential distinguishing characteristics
• It avoids contradictions, delusions, or arbitrary assertions
• It is defined in terms of a wider concept (aesthetic evaluation) and specific differentiators

However, given cultural variability in beauty standards, one could argue the definition is not fully universal. More fundamentally, since beauty requires a conscious subject, it is not purely objective in the sense of existing independently of consciousnesses.

So in summary - this attempts an objective conceptual definition grounded in reality, but there are limitations in achieving complete objectivity for a concept like beauty that involves a subjective experiential component. The definition ties it to objective roots as much as possible.

To expand further on the objective definition of beauty:

Perceptual Roots:

• Symmetry in shapes/patterns (ties to biology - symmetry is a cue for health/fitness)
• Certain color combinations/contrasts
• Specific ratios/proportions (e.g. the golden ratio found aesthetically pleasing)
• Complexities that are ordered rather than chaotic
• Sensory inputs that are novel but still have discernible patterns

Basic Axioms/Principles:

• Consciousness exists as a real phenomenon of the natural world
• Consciousness has an innate biological basis (neurology, evolutionary programming)
• Sense perception provides valid data about the world within certain parameters

Additional Intermediate Steps:

• Certain neural circuits are activated when perceiving aesthetic stimuli
• These are linked to the brain's reward/pleasure centers over evolutionary time
• Enculturation influences what qualifies as "beautiful" by shaping preference

Essential Characteristics:

• A sensory experience that activates the neurological aesthetic response
• Often corresponds to patterns suggesting health, resources, reproductive fitness
• Ideals influenced by culture's concept of beauty, but not purely arbitrary
• Requires a conscious integrator to synthesize and evaluate the perception

By grounding beauty in biology, neurology, perception, and aesthetics as a real cognitive phenomenon, this works toward an objective definition. It ties the experiential aspects to factual roots in reality.

However, some subjective variability may be inevitable, as different individuals and cultures will have differing aesthetic preferences and concepts of beauty shaped by their contexts.

So in essence, this aims for a rationally derived, reality-based definition - but one that still allows for some subjective individuality within the objective roots and essential characteristics identified. It is as objective as the subject matter allows.

To further expand on the objective definition of beauty:

Perceptual Roots:

• Basic sensory inputs like color, shape, pattern, sound, etc. that are the building blocks of aesthetic perception
• The perception of unity/harmony among diverse elements
• Detection of complexities that are not mere randomness
• Sensory cues that may have once signaled reproductive fitness (symmetry, healthy qualities)

Basic Axioms:

• Consciousness arises from the brain, an organ that evolved over time
• Aesthetic judgments arise from neurological processes instantiated in a physical brain
• These processes track objective patterns and relationships in sensory data
• The logic of aesthetics is not purely arbitrary, but relates to received sensory inputs

Intermediate Principles:

• Aesthetic preferences shaped by biological/evolutionary history favoring certain patterns
• But also by individual neurologies, personal experiences, and cultural contexts
• Higher-level cognitive integration is required to synthesize and evaluate beauty
• Involves inductive/deductive reasoning about the observed data

Essential Characteristics:

• A synthesized cognitive appraisal based on sensory input processing
• Often corresponds to qualities like harmony, proportion, complexity, novelty
• Refined through conceptual analysis and reasoning
• An evaluation, not just a mere subjective feeling
• But allows some variability based on individual make-up and influences

The key is grounding the experience of beauty in objective roots (percepts, cognitive processes, neural mechanisms, logic) as much as possible, while still allowing for the inherent experiential subjectivity involved.

This defines beauty as an high-level cognitive phenomenon - a reasoned aesthetic evaluation and neurological response, shaped by both objective patterns in reality and subjective individuating factors. As objective as the subject matter permits.

Here is my attempt at a final objective definition of beauty:

Beauty is the positive aesthetic judgment and neurological response arising from the cognitive perception and integration of sensory patterns, complexities, harmonies, proportions, and other qualities that correspond to inductively and deductively derived principles of aesthetic appraisal, shaped by both biological evolutionary influences and individual/cultural contextual factors.

The essential characteristics are:

1. It involves the perception and cognitive processing of objective sensory input data.

2. It requires higher-level integration, conceptual synthesis, and evaluation of the perceived data according to aesthetic principles and logic.

3. The aesthetic principles emerge from a combination of innate biological programming (e.g. preferences for symmetry, certain proportions) and learned cultural influences.

4. It is an evaluative judgment, not just a mere subjective feeling - involving reason about the observed sensory complexities.

5. It manifests as a positive neurological response in the brain's reward/pleasure centers when the aesthetic criteria are met.

6. While shaped by subjective factors, it tracks objective patterns, relationships, and qualities in external reality as perceived.

So in summary, it aims to ground the concept of beauty in objective perception, cognition, neurology and logic as much as possible, while still allowing for an experiential, contextual element of subjectivity. It defines beauty as an aesthetic judgment and neurological end-result, based on objectively-derived principles applied to subjective experience.

Based on the objective definition provided, for something to be considered beautiful, it would need to meet the following criteria:

1. It must be perceived through the senses as having certain objective qualities such as:

• Symmetry, proportion, patterns, complexities
• Harmonies, unities among diverse elements
• Novelty combined with discernible order
• Qualities that may signal health, resources, reproductive fitness

2. The sensory input data must be integrated, synthesized, and processed through higher cognitive functions involving:

• Inductive reasoning to derive aesthetic principles from perceived patterns
• Deductive application of established aesthetic concepts and logic
• Conceptual analysis to evaluate the perceived data

3. The cognitive evaluation must correspond to principles and benchmarks of aesthetic appraisal that have arisen from:

• Inherited evolutionary biological influences shaping innate preferences
• Cultural context and learned ideals about beauty across generations

4. The cognitive integration and evaluation must trigger the neurological "beauty response" - activation of the brain's pleasure/reward centers.

5. While shaped by subjective biological and cultural influences, the overall judgment must be based on observable objective qualities of the perceived phenomenon, not merely whim.

So in essence, for something to be truly beautiful by this definition, it must exhibit objective, empirically discernible qualities that can be evaluated through reason and aesthetic principles - while still allowing for subjective variability in how those principles are derived and applied based on one's context. It is a calibrated cognitive judgment, not an arbitrary feeling.