In a recent study, two of Immanuel Kant’s theories on experiencing beauty were assessed. The conclusion is that beauty might be in the eye of the beholder, but the beholder will need to think about it to appreciate it. Share on Pinterest Philosophy and psychology collide in a recent study on beauty. Beauty is an ephemeral term. Many of us will find beauty in a tropical beach or a sunset, while others might find beauty in less likely places. However, we all experience beauty somewhere along the line. In the 18th century, the philosopher Immanuel Kant laid out a couple of theories on beauty – in fact, he is still considered the preeminent authority on the topic. He theorized that beauty requires thought, but that sensuous pleasure can never be beautiful. Although the claims, at face value, appear challenging to approach scientifically, a study published in Current Biology goes some way toward testing them. This intriguing new study was carried out by Denis Pelli and Aenne Brielmann at New York University’s Department of Psychology.

Assessing Kant’s theories Sixty-two people took part in the study. They were asked to rate how much pleasure they felt when they saw an image, ate a candy, or felt a teddy bear. The participants were shown a range of images: some were beautiful, some were just nice, and others were neutral (for instance, a picture of cloth or a chair in a furniture catalog). The beauty of each image and object was rated from 1 to 4. After the initial round, the participants were asked to rate the images again, but this time they were distracted during the process with another task. The secondary task involved listening to a series of letters, and the participants were required to press a button if they heard the same letter that they had heard two letters previously – a task that requires a great deal of attention. Once the beauty score data had been analyzed, the team found that, although the reactions to non-beautiful images were not altered, beautiful images took a hit. Pictures that were rated beautiful during the first, non-distracted experiment were rated as less beautiful during the second, distraction task. The psychologists conclude that Kant was right: beauty does require thought. The second of Kant’s theories up for dissection does not fair so well. He claimed that sensual pleasures could never be beautiful, but around 30 percent of participants said that they experienced beauty when eating candy or feeling a soft teddy bear.