Lesley asked:

Why do we adore pop-stars or celebrities or in fact any "great" person, although we know that they
can not be as "perfect" or as "ideal" as we perceive them to be?

In general, what is this thing about being fascinated with certain things (like the female form, or a very
expensive car) and then seeing them just as flesh (like a medical student will see) or like a
manufactured good made up of engineering hours, and sheets of metal? (In this sense there seems
to be two basic views to many things around us).

Which view should I hold/stick to while viewing things? One makes me feel imprisoned to being
fooled by images (taking them ideal) the other makes me lose my desire to approach them.

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I think you should stick with being fooled by idealisations — up to a point. A certain level of
idealisation is normal.

We just don't normally, as a matter of fact, think of others in their full reality, as defecating and
masturbating and things. I don't think that this is wrong. It enables us to look at another person
without laughing or feeling revolted. Very few people are prepared to express their revulsion at the
human body and other people, but some philosophers and writers have done this.

Such writers are dwelling overly much on realities that we normally ignore — but they are doing this in
contemplative writing and this doesn't reflect on how they think in their ordinary human relationships.
If you think of bodies as medical students think of them it is not healthy. Medical students might see a
body as mere flesh when they are working on it, but they probably have a healthy unreality when not
at work and can emphasise other features of the human body in real life and fall in love.

I think that it is natural instinct to idealise and this has functional value in real life, allowing us not to
be revolted by others (and ourselves). But because we have this instinct it is possible for it to be
exploited by the media. Many people think that this is not healthy and I think they are right. We have a
natural instinct which is being exploited for the glorification of a few for commercial reasons. It can't
be helped as we are fed an image of a person in idealised form.

Perhaps being fascinated by the female form is normal! I should hope so! It might be like being
fascinated by an expensive car. The latter is probably a form of aesthetic evaluation since expensive
cars (with some exceptions) are better looking than cheap ones. The former might be aesthetic too.

We are not static beings and can shift our views given that everything has several aspects. You can
focus on the expensiveness of the car or on its beauty. You can think of people with revulsion if you
focus on certain aspects. Best not to do this though! Train yourself out of it.

As with aesthetic appreciation when we feel a car has qualities that make it beautiful, so with a great
person. It is easier with a great person to say what these qualities are. Aesthetic qualities are very
difficult to explicate.

Rachel Browne

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