Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“Beauty is pleasure regarded as the quality of a thing.”
- Source
- The Sense of Beauty
- Date
- 1896
Meaning of “Beauty is pleasure regarded as the quality of…”
Santayana defines beauty as pleasure experienced as though it belonged to the perceived object, making aesthetic value depend on an appreciative response rather than a detached physical property.
Where does it come from?
The Sense of Beauty (1896), Part I, §11, ‘The definition of beauty,’ Project Gutenberg #26842; the represented section begins on printed page 49. ‘Beauty is pleasure regarded as the quality of a thing’ is Santayana’s summary definition after describing beauty as positive, intrinsic and objectified value. This remains historical naturalistic aesthetic theory / philosophical psychology, not a modern empirical test proving an object objectively beautiful.
