JerryL
Well-Known Member
Yes, you can objectively measure a given individual's response to given stimuli at a given point. That does not get us to objective beauty. For anythign to be objective, it must exist consistantly outside of the perception of the viewer.Objectively it is a physiological response that can be tested and measured.
While my reaction at a given moment is, itself, objective; the person's beauty (what are you defining "beauty" as anyway) is not (as I cannot get a consistant measure).
No. A physiological condition / action is an objective event. We can all look at the same scans of the brain and see the same thing. It really happened regardless of observer.Like I said, objectively it is a physiological response.
This does not mean that what he was looking at was objectively beautiful, regardless of the observer. All you've established is that there was a reaction. Notice how you can't answer any of my "what's more beautiful" questions.
Which does nothing to esablish it as objective. Of course individuals find some things more appealing than others, and of course there are trends. Some of us like brocolli and some of us dont, but pretty much all of us dislike laundry detergent. (because the ones that liked the tastes in laundry detergent died). This does not mean that taste "good vs bad" is suddenly objective.Are we born with a beauty detector? Three-month-old babies stare longer at faces that adults rate as beautiful than they do at faces adults deem unattractive.
Your "if we can measure the response, it's objective" stance makes the word meaningless (as everything that can be concived suddenly becomes objective, and nothing at all is subjective).
You are not testing for beauty, you are testing for a person's reaction. If it were a test for beauty, it would be reproduceable for the same results.Beauty is something that we subjectively experience, response is objective and fully observable. Responses can be observed and tested, in different ways. That includes surveys or even fMRIs. You said it was not testable, simply because it is subjective.
Again I ask, who is more beautiful, skinny women or rotund women?
Show me a test for beauty and I'll show you how it's failed (or, in the above case, why it doesn't test beauty)Show me a test that has failed because beauty is subjective, rendering it completely untestable.