Is Beauty a Moral Obligation?
Recently, I posted a poll on two social media platforms: “True or false: Beauty is a moral requirement.” Across the two platforms, the average answer was 62% for False, and 38% for True. From DMs relating to the post, the default interpretation seemed to be that beauty meant ‘physical appearance’. That observation alone, if it is correct, speaks volumes. It is worth asking whether a culture preoccupied with physical appearance, often manipulated by make-up, surgery, and photo editing, could ever have a healthy approach to beauty. Perhaps, that’s a topic for another time. I want to defend the minority opinion, that beauty is a moral obligation.
A while ago, I had a conversation with a colleague who said that he had seen someone singing opera at the train station. It wasn’t a busker looking for donations. It was a man who had gone to some effort to move away from the morning commuters. He was dressed normally and reading music from a book. We discussed where he might be going and why he might be working on an operatic piece at the train station. I guessed that he was on the way to a performance or audition and was doing some last-minute preparation. I also said that it was a shame that artists don’t feel free to perform in public. If you have a permit and you’re accepting money, it’s fine, but nobody makes music on the street corner just because they can.
