Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself, and asks nothing beyond itself.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book Four
This reminds me of the debate between Kant and Hume about the nature of beauty that used to be a staple of the sadly discontinued COR 220. Essentially, do we appreciate beauty because we, after study, possess the education and experience to see it (Kant) or is there something inherent in the beautiful thing that we pick up on unbidden (Hume). MA seems to be coming down on the side of the latter.
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