Aesthetics of science

Branch of philosophy

The Pillars of Creation, photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope in the Eagle Nebula, provide an oft-cited example of aesthetic appeal in astronomical discovery.[1][2]

Aesthetics of science is the study of beauty and matters of taste within the scientific endeavour. Aesthetic features like simplicity, elegance and symmetry are sources of wonder and awe for many scientists, thus motivating scientific pursuit.[3] Conversely, theories that have been empirically successful may be judged to lack aesthetic merit, which contributes to the desire to find a new theory that subsumes the old.[4]

The topic has been addressed by several publications discussing how aesthetic values are related to scientific experiments and theories.[5][6]

## See also

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* Aesthetics
* Mathematical beauty

## References

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1. ^ Wyatt, Ryan (2015-01-05). "New Pillars of Creation". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
2. ^ Drake, Nadia (2015-01-05). "Hubble Revisits an Icon, the Pillars of Creation". National Geographic. Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
3. ^ Owens, Brian (2022-03-17). "Beauty and wonder of science boosts researchers' well-being". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-00762-8. PMID 35301500. S2CID 247520530.
4. ^ Ivanova, Milena (October 2017). "Aesthetic values in science". Philosophy Compass. 12 (10): e12433. doi:10.1111/phc3.12433. ISSN 1747-9991.
5. ^ Ivanova, Milena; French, Steven, eds. (2020). The Aesthetics of Science: Beauty, Imagination and Understanding. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-367-14114-1. OCLC 1143820195.
6. ^ Ivanova, Milena (March 2021). "The aesthetics of scientific experiments". Philosophy Compass. 16 (3). doi:10.1111/phc3.12730. ISSN 1747-9991. S2CID 233824860.

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Aesthetics

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Works|

* Hippias Major (c. 390 BC)
* Poetics (c. 335 BC)
* The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons (c. 100)
* On the Sublime (c. 500)
* On the Sublime and Beautiful (1757)
* Lectures on Aesthetics (1835)
* "The Critic as Artist" (1891)
* In Praise of Shadows (1933)
* Art as Experience (1934)
* "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1935)
* "Avant-Garde and Kitsch" (1939)
* Critical Essays (1946)
* The Aesthetic Dimension (1977)
* Why Beauty Matters (2009)

Related|

* Aestheticization of politics
* Applied aesthetics
* Arts criticism
* Axiology
* Evolutionary aesthetics
* Mathematical beauty
* Neuroesthetics
* Patterns in nature
* Philosophy of design
* Philosophy of film
* Philosophy of music
* Psychology of art
* Theory of art

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