well-- the old saying is Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there is a certain truth to that. in term of humans, some aspects of beauty vary from culture to culture, age to age, but some aspects are stadard.. all cultures seem to find symetrical human from beautiful. and clear skin, and certain qualities (and quantities!) of hair.
Non-human forms are harder to quantify for beauty. some of it is learned.. (think of the king of austria, who complained that Mozart's music had "too many notes") some of it is, it seems hard wired into human psyche.. water--since we are so dependant on it, whether immediately visible (a sea scape) or implied--by a lush land scape is thought to be beautiful.. but any one who has lived in a dessert, learn to see beauty in the space landscape, where water is a premium. but, there are still a lot fewer painting of the dessert.
so what is beautiful can be learned..
i am aware of my own conflicting values when it comes to beauty. I love symetry, especially multi fold symetry-- think of a kalidescopes, but i also am enamored by asymetry!
i value beauty-- and i find it every where. in nature, especailly in nature's efforts in the concrete jungle that is manhattan.
