Crane Brinton
Crane Brinton is an awesome author. I bought a copy of his book ‘The History of Western Morals’ and just checked out his ‘The Fate of Man’; both are excellent works. If nothing else, I intend to finish them both before the summer is up (I’ll consider that my main philosophical fare). Of course, to check out his book, I had to make the dangerous trip to UH’s library; as usual, I got a few more books than I had planned, and will probably not finish any of them.
Since I’ve been reading so much philosophy stuff, today thoughts of the metaphysical have dominated my mind (btw, I found out that the term metaphysical, literally ‘after the physics’, was coined by Aristotle’s students to refer to his works after his Physics). The only thought I had worth mentioning isn’t really metaphysical, but it seems so at first blush: I was wondering about the relationship between physical beauty and intelligence. Particularly, why do most people say that both don’t coexist, and why, in my experience they do. Regarding the latter, I can safely say that at least part of the explanation lies in the fact that I think intelligence is attractive. And I rarely, if ever, remain attracted to a person on a physical basis (key word being remain :). But there is more to it than that obvious dimension. I think the human race is breeding for both attributes: beauty and intelligence. Consequently, as time goes on, beauty will cross increasingly more with intelligence, resulting in people who have both stunning physical features, and are insultingly intelligent. Something to be desired! As for the former belief, I think that is just a popular misconception which probably arose in the times before beauty and intelligence were found so commonly together. Perhaps at one time, beauty was something sought for as an end in itself (as a sign of verility or health?), but nowadays, beauty without a modicum of intelligence is usually insulted. At least, that is my take on it all.
Possibly relevant posts:
- Whistling while I whine (10/17/2002)
- More Just So Stories (5/28/2002)
- Another visit to the library… (6/13/2002)