In our day, we tend to define beauty as a subjective feeling that stirs the senses and is evoked by art, music, and other things. The concept of beautifull is much more complex, though. A beautifull object must have a certain proportion, harmony, and symmetry, according to the classical notion of beauty. The idea of the beauty of nature has been a major influence on the definition of the beautiful, too.
There is a sense of the beautifull that transcends the individual, and is rather like an ideal of perfection that is present in everyone. This kind of beauty is usually referred to as transcendent beauty. It is what makes some people able to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of a work of art, or the beauty of a person. The beauty of a landscape or scenery is another example of the beauty that is often referred to as transcendent.
The most important element of the concept of beauty is the fact that it is based on experience. One has to be able to feel the emotion that is provoked when observing something that is considered beautiful. The feeling of pleasure that is provoked by the beauty of a thing or a person is also part of this experience. This is why the concept of the beautifull is sometimes regarded as an object of philosophy rather than a science.
Some philosophers, such as Plotinus, have used the notion of beauty in a philosophical context that goes beyond aesthetics and includes utilitarianism. For the latter, a work of art must not only be beautiful, but it must also be useful in some way. The work must be able to express its purpose and operate in the way that it is intended. This is a more complex and rigorous way of looking at the question of what is beautiful than the one that appeals to pleasure alone.
A number of terms have been used to describe the beauty of a person or object, including lovely, comely, handsome, and pretty. The meanings of these words are similar, and they all mean exciting sensuous or aesthetic pleasure. However, they do differ in the degree to which this pleasure is swayed by emotion. The word handsome, for example, seems to be used more in the sense of being coolly approved than being emotionally responded to.
Colors also play a role in our perception of the beautifull. This is why many designers, retailers, and other people who want to entice others use the psychology of colors in their marketing and branding.
Even though ever fewer thinkers adduce the beautiful as proofs of the existence of God, and notions of both an original creativity/spontaneity and the eventual pacification/redemption of all existence have been abandoned, spiritual overtones still linger in our modern notions of the beauty that is reinvigorating or soul-saving.