Comparison of the Origin of Beauty from the Point of View of Plato and Augustine

Beauty is one of the basic concepts studied through history and philosophy. From a philosophical point of view, beauty is one of the world’s basic concepts. Philosophers have looked at this issue from their point of view and influenced the history of philosophy with their theories. Among these philosophers, we can mention Plato and Augustine. The reason for choosing the opinions of these two philosophers in the upcoming research is the closeness of the theories and ideas of these two philosophers. This article aims to examine and compare the views of Plato and Augustine and to find commonalities and differences in the opinions of these two philosophers from the aspect of aesthetics. The question raised in this research is, what do Plato and Augustine consider the origin of beauty? Therefore, the method of this research is descriptive-analytical, and data collection has been done using the library method. The results showed that Plato defines beauty as representing the world of ideas and pure and perfect essence and believes that beauty in the material world is only an incomplete and relative manifestation of ideal beauty. From Plato’s point of view, beauty is a transcendent concept that is beyond the material world. Augustine introduces beauty as a manifestation of God and his creation. He believes beauty in the material world represents God’s wisdom and power. For a better understanding of God and His creation, one should pay attention to the beauty of the material world. He believes that beauty can be experienced and admired in the material world, and this experience leads us to God and His creation. Therefore, from the point of view of Plato and Augustine, the source of beauty is something beyond the material world. Plato defines beauty as representing the world of ideas and pure and perfect essence, While Augustine introduces beauty as a manifestation of God and His creation. Augustine believes that the source of beauty is God.