aesthetics

Branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty, especially in art. It emerged as a distinct branch of enquiry in the mid-18th century. Aesthetics attempts to explain the human reaction to beauty, and whether this reaction is objective or subjective; for instance, whether beauty is a universal concept, or whether environment – living conditions, class, gender, and race – affects a person's taste and what is considered beautiful.

The subject of aesthetics was introduced by Plato and enlarged upon by Aristotle, but the term was first used by the German philosopher Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten. Other philosophers interested in this area were Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Benedetto Croce, John Dewey, and George Santayana.