Throughout the development of his thought about the concept of beauty, Plato is consistent in showing that it is something that exists within a nondiscursive dimension that interacts with, affects and is affected by the discursive. It is a place where the two dimensions are required to meet and their meeting becomes obvious, opening up the way to genuine knowing. Plato progresses this thought through several different arguments about the concept of beauty as is demonstrated by Drew Hyland in his book Plato and the Question of Beauty. Within this work, Hyland shows how Plato starts this discussion in the Hippias Major as an attempt to define beauty within the discursive arena, finally showing that it cannot thus be defined. From there, he opens the discussion again in the Symposium, this time attempting to provide an object example of this nondiscursive concept. Finally, he returns to the subject in the Phaedrus to show that it is not something that can be captured in any form or definition but is rather something that can only be understood as an existential experience. These concepts of beauty discussed by Plato are easier to understand when they are applied to a phenomenon that measures up to what Plato might consider a thing of beauty. The beauty of the Aurora Borealis, a phenomena of the northern night skies (figure 1), stands up to all three of Plato’s concepts of beauty as something that people attempt to define but which cannot be adequately described in words or forms and exists as something that can only be captured as part of an existential experience.
Within the Hippias Major, Plato presents an argument between Socrates and Hippias, a sophist, about the definition of beauty. Hippias has just informed Socrates that he is about to deliver a speech to a group of boys at their request about the beauty that they should pursue in order to live a good life. To Socrates, this is a boast both that Hippias is capable of defining the concept of beauty and that he can do so using beautiful words. In typical Socrates fashion, Socrates then challenges Hippias to come up with a succinct definition of the word that cannot be challenged. “More important than the failure to adequately and rigorously define beauty will be the question raised by that failure in the midst of the regular and adequate ‘use’ of the term: what are the relevant senses – and the plural should be emphasized here – in which we can be said to know or not know something like beauty? Surely the answer will not be limited to what we can define” (Hyland 2008, p. 12). Although the conversation starts with the concept of an example of what beauty is, Socrates continues to press the question into finding a solid definition of beauty itself to which Hippias cannot find an answer.
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In much the same way that the idea of beauty cannot be defined in words by Hippias, so the Aurora Borealis is something that cannot be fully defined in words particularly perhaps by the ancient Greeks. Although NASA can provide a very scientific definition of what they are, “These light shows are provoked by energy from the Sun and fueled by electrically charged particles trapped in Earth’s magnetic field” (2015), even today, people find it difficult to define what they see when they view the aurora borealis. However, while the Lights defy definition as an object of beauty based in Platonic theory, it is possible Plato might not have agreed. There is scientific study that suggests the lack of words to describe something can actually prevent speakers of that language from seeing it. “Because the Ancient Greeks were not really conscious of seeing, and did not have the words to describe what they unconsciously saw, they simply did not see the full spectrum of color; they were limited by linguistic relativity” (Trulzi, 2006). Aristotle reported them as “glowing clouds and a light that resembled flames of burning gas” (NASA, 2015) while Plutarch wrote “there was an enormous and furious figure in the sky. It was like a flaming cloud, which did nto stay at its position but moved windingly and regularly” (Daglis & Akasofu 2004), but no mention by either of the beautiful swirling colors that are mentioned in modern accounts or seen in images such as that captured in Figure 2.
Within the Symposium, Plato’s definition of beauty takes on yet another approach to the concept by attempting to allow an example of it in its highest form, itself something that cannot quite be fully fathomed in a clear and distinct transferrable image. This again can be referred back to the idea that the ancient Greeks did not see color the same way we did – whether due to differences in their eyes or to their limited vocabulary that did not allow them to see different colors but only discern perhaps that there were different shades. Papari (2012) discusses how several of the ancient philosophers talked about color, revealing that they commonly recognized white and black, red and a greenish yellow. “Empedocles, one of the earliest Ancient Greek color theorists, described color as falling into four areas, light or white, black or dark, red and yellow; Xenophanes described the rainbow as having three bands of color: purple, green/yellow, and red” (Trulzi 2006). In most cases, colors were considered to be more associated with textures or material forms than with a particular shade or color as color like we think of it today. “For Democritus, as well as for Parmenides, as mentioned above, is the world of the senses an illusion, a metaphor and not a reality” (Papari, 2012). This serves to help explain Plato’s concept of the forms, perfect realities of which mere humans only get glimpses from the shadows they create within our available world of perception. In the Symposium, Diotima defines beauty by referencing these forms as an example of what beauty is – something that we can see a piece of without actually understanding its full complexity.
The aurora borealis has been used as an example of beauty on the level of Plato’s thinking for centuries. “From ancient times, it has filled people with awe and wonder, with delight and pleasure, with both joy and fear. It has inspired artists and it also terrified people who thought that the end of the world was approaching” (Daglis & Akasofu 2004). It took until the end of the 19th century that we finally began to formulate a true understanding of the actual science behind what is going on with the Lights, but that hasn’t reduced our awe at being in their presence nor has it enabled us to capture them for our own. As Janaway (2005) points out, Plato’s concept of beauty involved something that could appeal to both the intellect and the baser elements of the spirit, capturing both and defying any easy representation. Even today when we are able to use digital cameras with super-speed shutters to take images such as that in Figure 3 do little justice to the majesty of the aurora borealis in its moment.
However, Diotima’s story suggests an even deeper level of beauty. While it has been understood as something that could be possessed, she indicates that true beauty, real beauty is something beyond that. As Suzanne Obdrzalek (2010) explains, true beauty doesn’t have an end, it is a means into itself and the initiate that learns to appreciate beauty in its Forms is able to transcend his base nature to become something better. The aurora, existing as it does in uncapturable form and signifying something much greater than ourselves, offers just such an interpretation.
Plato’s concept of beauty as an existential experience as described in the Phaedrus suggests that beauty is something that can only be experienced, such as in the deep emotional reaction of beholding the person that you love in a moment of loving you back. This idea was discussed to some degree in the Symposium as beauty is related to the concept of the Forms, but in the Pheadrus it’s taken one step further. “Whereas soft or large items inspire questions in minds of an abstract bent, and the perception of examples of justice or self-control presupposes moral development, beautiful things strike everyone. Therefore, beauty promises more effective reflection than any other property of things. Beauty alone is both a Form and a sensory experience” (Pappas 2012). Within this definition, beauty is more than an object that can reflect the idea that there is something more beyond the sum of our understanding, it is also an experience that is felt at the deepest level of the senses, transforming us, if even for a moment, into a space out of ourselves, out of time, out of place, into a space of intimate, eternal oneness with the Real that can only be represented, not captured, through reproductions such as Figure 4.
This third element of Plato’s conception of beauty can also be found in the temporality of the aurora borealis. It remains elusive, temporary, something that can only be experienced under specific conditions, not reproduced. In modern times, this idea has come to be known as the aesthetic attitude. “We are to attend to the object as an object of contemplation only, to its phenomenal properties simply for the sake of perceiving them. We are to savor the perceptual experience for its own sake, instead of seeking to put it to further use in our practical affairs” (Goldman, 2005). It is an appreciation of beauty for the mere sake of beauty alone, to allow ourselves to be consumed by the experience without concern for classifying it or judging it.
Through his various treatises, Plato builds a case for beauty and its meaning that can easily be related to the beauty discovered in the natural phenomena known as the aurora borealis. As Plato argues in the Hippias Major, the aurora borealis is something that defies attempts to define it, even now that we know the scientific reasons for them. The argument contained in the Symposium sets up beauty as being something that can only be found through examples of the Forms, things that exist beyond our full ability to perceive them such that we only see shadows of the things. Beauty gives us a stronger glimpse of that shadow and helps us ascend to a higher understanding of being, just as the aurora helps us remember that there are things we still cannot fully grasp. Finally, in the Pheadrus, Plato makes the case that beauty goes beyond definition and Form to speak to us of something that is both Form and experience. Although we’ve tried, we cannot take the experience of the aurora with us. If we want to partake of its magic, we must go there and take part in it on its own terms.
- Daglis, Ioannis & Akasofu, Syun-Ichi. (Nov. 2004). “Aurora – The magnificent northern lights.” SCEG Recorder. Vol. 29, N. 9.
- Finland Tourist Board. (2015). “Northern Lights (aurora borealis), Lapland.” Photo. www.visitfinland.com
- Goldman, A. (2005). “Aesthetic attitude” The Aesthetic. London: Routledge.
- Hyland, Drew A. (2008). Plato and the Question of Beauty. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- Janaway, Christopher. (2005). Plato. London: Routledge.
- NASA. (2015). “Aurora: fabled glowing lights of the Sun-Earth connection.” Washington D.C.: NASA.
- Obdrzalek, Suzanne. (Oct. 2010). “Moral Transformation and the Love of Beauty in Plato’s Symposium.” Journal of the History of Philosophy. Vol. 48, N. 4.
- Papari, Vasilik. (Nov. 2012). “Color in ancient philosophy.” 5th International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science. University of Athens.
- Pappas, Nickolas. (2012). “Plato’s Aesthetics.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University.
- Truilzi, Ananda. (Nov. 11, 2006). “Ancient Greek Color Vision.” Serendip Studio.
