Aesthetics

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that deals with beauty and ugliness. These qualities can be viewed as ends in and of themselves, or as means to an end. Cyril Stanley Smith writes, "Paradoxically man's capacity for aesthetic enjoyment may have been his most practical characteristic, for it is at the root of his discovery of the world about him, and it makes him want to live." The cuteness of children is an aesthetic quality that prompts people to care for them.