"Why are flowers beautiful?" - This seemingly non-scientific question seems to be such only seemingly, at least for me. Are there any connections between biology and aesthethics? Between science and art? What is taste of beauty in science and not only in art? What meaning has beauty of concept or (e.g. mathematical) evaluation for resulting theory? What means such a beauty? Isn't it one of main selection criteria (apart of agreement with experiment)? Or on contrary: Isn't it its form relation to reality which makes the particular theory beautiful in our eyes? Or possibly astonishing simplification of obtained explanation of up to now complex matter make up them such? And the flowers? Are they beautiful just by considering them to be beautiful? Or are there some immanent physical properties of them, e.g., symmetry or color composition, which makes us think of them as of something beautiful? And if, what makes us think so? There is huge ammount of important theoretical research on the nature of beauty. Also great abundance of considerations on the possible relation with science in general (and not only with natural sciences, as, e.g., the below more than one hour lecture of famous physicist David Deutsch of Centre for Quantum Computation, University of Oxford). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT7DFCF1Fn8 However, I think it is still worth again to be considered within our still growing RG community. That is why I am reactivating here interesting most likely for many of us thread: https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_are_flowers_beautiful
And maybe they are beautiful imprinting in memory of following people generations as a symbol of nature reborn during spring?
The first flowers (Scilla siberica) which bloomed this Spring in my town.
Are not Spring flowers a symbol of the rebirth of Nature for us?
"Ode to a flower" by R. Feynman, and the lecture given by another famous physicist David Deutsch of Centre for Quantum Computation, University of Oxford: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT7DFCF1Fn8 all that means that not only biologists but also physicists are vividly interested in the nature of beauty.
First, they present a clear cut display of colorful differences from the environment they are. Second they are different in structures, in appearances of sophistication and intricacies of nature. Third, up close, they send a very vibrant sent that stimulates our senses and stirs our imagination beyond the ground they are.
Many fruits are very distinctive at the background of surrounding green. They also have a lot more benefits for us than most flowers have. So why not fruits are equally or even more beautiful for us than flowers are? Why not fruits are the canon of beauty?
With this question we will really enjoy since we will see only beautiful flowers. Thank you to all my dear colleagues.
Dear Prof. Shah Md. Safiul Hoque , is it possible that our early predecessors associated flowers with a true source of honey?
The flowers is beautiful because it is created by Super Beautiful
The human being is superb intelligent outcome by The Supreme Creator
Only clean heart, ready to indulge in deep research the soul will find the genuine answer - What is purpose of all living natures.
It is really thought provoking question. " What meaning has beauty of concept or (e.g. mathematical) evaluation for resulting theory? What means such a beauty? "
Are beautiful imprinting in memory of following people generations as a symbol of nature reborning during spring?
Are they beautiful imprinting in memory of following people generations as a symbol of nature reborning during spring?
Are they beautiful because of imprinting in memory of following people generations as a symbol of nature reborning during spring?
Are they beautiful as an expression of so rapid change from dull winter bareness to blooming and expanding life during spring?
Even this single first flower of Scilla siberica which bloomed this Spring in my town makes the difference.
In these trees the flowers are considered to be especially beautiful. And not symmetrical leafs, each of which is a small green marvel of nature itself. Why?
Flowers are made attractive so that they attract all life towards them and also create life.
The golden rain tiny flowers are very similar to these blue of Scilla siberica
Flowers have fragrances to attract pollinators like bees.
It does not explain still why (especially non-edible) flowers are in general much more beautiful than fruits are for us?
These tree is already blooming in Katowice. These flowers are particularly beautiful for us. Maybe because we always knew that they are converted into edible fruits.
The flowers are beautiful for their visual and aesthetic appeal and because they remind us of fertility, which starts a new cycle of life.
Dear Barbara Motyka ,
In attachment the cover page of a book entitled:
Why are Flowers Beautiful? Children's Book Kindle Edition
This book will help your child learn to identify a variety of reasons that make flowers beautiful. This simple, and sweet, story will give you a little bit of a heart that you will definitely get excited about in their environment. This book uses real life photos, which helps babies, toddlers, and young children learn extremely well, because they can see the object, then associate picture with it (picture word recognition). Therefore, in this book the use of real life pictures are used to enhance your young child's learning experience when learning a variety of reasons why flowers are beautiful in their environment.
Dear Barbara Motyka ,
In attachment the cover page of a book entitled:
Why are Flowers Beautiful? Children's Book Kindle Edition
This book will help your child learn to identify a variety of reasons that make flowers beautiful. This simple, and sweet, story will give you a little bit of a heart that you will definitely get excited about in their environment. This book uses real life photos, which helps babies, toddlers, and young children learn extremely well, because they can see the object, then associate picture with it (picture word recognition). Therefore, in this book the use of real life pictures are used to enhance your young child's learning experience when learning a variety of reasons why flowers are beautiful in their environment.
Butterflies are not insects (...) They are self-propelled flowers. – Robert A. Heinlein
Happy is the man who can with vigorous wing Mount to those luminous serene fields! The man whose thoughts, like larks, Take liberated flight toward the morning skies –Who hovers over life and understands without effort The language of flowers and voiceless things! – Charles Baudelaire
Why Are Flowers Beautiful? - is answering David Deutsch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT7DFCF1Fn8
On beauty of theory: What meant pleasure of discovery for Charles Darwin?
Different Forms of Flowers - Darwin "This book consists chiefly of the several papers on heterostyled flowers, originally published by the Linnean Society, corrected, with much new matter added, together with observations on some other cases in which the same plant bears two kinds of flowers. As before remarked, no little discovery of mine ever gave me so much pleasure as the making out the meaning of heterostyled flowers. The results of crossing such flowers in an illegitimate manner, I believe to be very important as bearing on the sterility of hybrids; although these results have been noticed by only a few persons."
THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS ON PLANTS OF THE SAME SPECIES. BY CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1877.
Tulips. Russia. Orenburg. Tulips. To the Southeast - 50 km from the border of Europe and Asia.
Мартовская Камелия в Музеуме Парижа
Camelia japonica var. in Museum Botanical Garden
Echinopsis candicans. Bloomed (flower appeared ) on my birthday.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinopsis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomy_of_the_Cactaceae
It is very simple - these are small part of nature. As the nature around us shrinks like shagreen leather, flowers and pets are things that still connect with nature most of us. But I prefer search leftovers outside the home.
I think because of the nature of roses and its beautiful shape
بسبب جمالها ورائحتها
Because of its beauty and smell
Zainab Nizar Jawad
***
My garden. Flowers
When flowering plants were created, some 100 million years ago, they had to compete attracting pollinators, such as insects and birds. Without the pollinators they would have perished long ago and we would have only the conifers around. Fancy eating them!
So, it was a strong competition that continues till now: "create some unique colours and smells, or you are dead!"
Many beautiful flowers grew by modern gardeners do not contain any fragrance, (any good or bad) odour/smell. E.g., "Dahlias are a common garden flower with an ornate, layered petal structure and no fragrance." Moreover, "The brightest flowers are often fragrance-free because they attract birds, which have no sense of smell. Flowers have fragrances to attract pollinators like bees, moths, beetles and other insects." https://www.hunker.com/12494687/a-list-of-flowers-with-no-smell
In any case, why their fragrance is usually also pleasant for us?
Also ancient, native American flowering plant the sunflower, Helianthus annuus is without a scent. However, it is one of few examples which could be fully understandable (because of the main utilitarian reason) why we consider them as beautiful. Another examples may serve the cauliflower or carciofi. It does not explain still why (especially non-edible) flowers are in general much more beautiful than fruits are for us? Even the edible flowers I've mentioned above seem to be less attractive for us than common roses or tulips. So why colours and fragrances addressed to insects are so powerful also for us? Are our brains acting on the same simple principle as the insects'?
Why are flowers beautiful? "Because of their beauty" seems to be not satisfactorily answer here. We "know"/"feel" that they are beautiful. But why we consider them as such? As a canon of beauty?
To abstract from the biochemistry of flowers, we could also extend our question to butterflies. Why are butterflies beautiful? They do not smell nice. They are ugly when we abstract from their wings. So, why?
Because flowers was created to give us beauty ..... to give us the medicine of the soul as gives us the body medicine.
Saint Petersburg.
Spit of Vasilyevsky Island.
https://www.advantour.com/russia/saint-petersburg/attractions/spit-of-vasilyevsky-island.htm
Saint Petersburg.
Spit of Vasilyevsky Island.
https://www.advantour.com/russia/saint-petersburg/attractions/spit-of-vasilyevsky-island.htm
Like bees, human beings are responsible for disseminating species as much as, unlike bees, destroying them. Its possible that the colours of flowers appeal to us as a means of spreading them from probably the limited locations they first occupied. The brighter the colours the more likely we are to pluck them and site them closer to our homes.
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