Dear Philosophers, Can we regard Race discrimination as an aesthetic issue? By this I mean to view the differences among different races as aesthetic preference. So, can we say that when a person doesn't like a specific human race, he/she is just making an aesthetic choice, and, consequently, if we do not allow him/her to express his/her preference we are limiting his/her freedom of speech? Thank you

If personal taste is something that emerges somewhat chaotically from personal experience and potentially genetics, then how can it belong to oneself and truly be personal? Surely, we don't like to think of our tastes as random; on the contrary, they define us. And yet if our tastes are something rational, then we might indeed be able to dispute them with some level of objectivity - some tastes would just be bad or good, and this could be proven. Clearly this isn't the case - so it seems personal taste is neither a chaotic result of our interaction with our life experience, nor some sort of rational conclusion on the subjects of the taste. What, then, is personal taste?

There is this idea that languages can be judged and valued - take the very stereotypical image of the proud French person praising their own language's beauty and warmth while explaining that English is an impure, soulless and emotionless tongue with "stolen" vocabulary. Is the idea that languages can be judged and praised/scorned (sort of like works of art) rooted in a theory of linguistic aesthetics? Has such a theory ever been articulated? More to the point, are there any general justifications for such views, or are words really just words?

Is there a fundamental link between behavior we view as immoral, and behavior we view as repulsive, disgusting, or otherwise aesthetically unpleasant? It seems the terms of the latter are sometimes used to describe the former.

While on holiday in Crete, myself and my friends Michael and Daniel began to admire the sparse mountainous landscape. We all agreed that it was aesthetically pleasing, but we all had different opinions concerning the degree of its aesthetic beauty. Michael suggested that the landscape was inferior to a forested mountain-range covered in thick pine forests. Daniel argued that Michael was incorrect because the Cretan landscape had a sparse beauty which was very appealing. He compared the heavily forested landscape of Michael's comparison to a ring with an enormous gaudy diamond, while the Cretan landscape had the minimalist, simplistic beauty of a ring with a smaller but more precious gem. I argued that Michael was mistaken in making this comparison to begin with. The Cretan landscape should not be compared to a landscape from a more temperate region of the world, because they were fundamentally different types of landscape. It is possible to compare the work of a oil-paints artist with those of another oil...

I have been working on a theory of aesthetics and wished to have the input of someone more well versed in the philosophical literature. I have mostly centered upon music, as in: what makes one form of music, e.g. Classical, superior than another, e.g. Pop? Using Nietzsche's idea of genealogy, I determined that Rock and Roll could never be truly great art because of its development from slavery, much as Nietzsche attacked the Christian religion due to its association as a slave religion. The main quality that defines great art, I argue, is nobility. And this is a quality which servitude, or a spirit of art arising from servitude, cannot comprehend. Also, would it be possible to recommend reading that might aid me? Currently I am reading Hegel's Introductory Lectures in Aesthetics, and Kant's Critique of Judgment.

Yesterday I and one of my friends had a discussion about doing plastic surgery for nose, hair or other parts of the face or body in order to make one's physical appearance more beautiful. We didn't come to a common point of view regarding rightfulness of this action. What is your idea?

Is it true that all people are beautiful? Or is that just a white lie we tell to make non-beautiful people feel better?

If everybody in the world thought blue was the best color, would it be a fact that blue is the best color? --Josh, age 11

Are there any extensive philosophical examinations of a link between aesthetics and ethics? I had heard that Nietzsche and Rousseau, for example, argued that the two were fundamentally linked. Specifically, I am curious as to whether any philosophers have advanced the position that ethics and morality are sub-fields of aesthetics (an "Aesthetics of Human Behavior", if you will).