Abstract
Abstract Jacques Maritain followed Thomas Aquinas by identifying the truly beautiful as perfect, harmonious, and radiantly splendid. To this account we may add that beauty, above all the beauty of God, enjoys inexhaustible meaning and overlaps with the Holy (see Rudolf Otto). The divine beauty is an awesome and fascinating mystery. Beauty triggers love. Loving beauty opens the way to knowing the truth, and helps us grasp and practise virtue. We can speak of beauty ethics, as well as virtue ethics. Despite a partial, modern ‘eclipse’ of beauty, a sense of beauty has not disappeared. Experiments with newly born children suggest that a sense of beauty is innate. Love of beauty, however, should not lead us to ignore ways in which beauty may be used for evil purposes.
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