{"id":5530,"date":"2016-09-25T19:47:29","date_gmt":"2016-09-25T19:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.plato-philosophy.org\/?post_type=teachertoolkit&p=5530"},"modified":"2026-02-18T08:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T16:43:09","slug":"what-do-we-find-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"teachertoolkit","link":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/teachertoolkit\/what-do-we-find-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do We Find Beautiful?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

This can be a week-long lesson or you can do this in one day.<\/p>\n

Ask the students to choose a song that they think is beautiful and write down why they think it is beautiful. (You can also ask students to choose a song they think is ugly.)<\/p>\n

Longer Assignment: Ask students to choose as many \u201cbeautiful\u201d songs as they are old. So, for example, if a student is 16, that student will pick 16 songs the student thinks are beautiful. Students should make a list of the songs and then write a paragraph for each song detailing why they think they are beautiful. Then they should pick one song that they believe is \u201cthe opposite of beautiful,\u201d that they might term \u201cugly,\u201d and write a paragraph for this song detailing why they think it is ugly.<\/p>\n

Emphasize that the songs don’t have to be the most beautiful <\/em>songs of all time or even the songs they think are the most beautiful ever. Students are asked to bring, on the due date along with their completed assignment, their songs with them via phone or other device and told that they will have a chance to play some of them. Make sure to have the ability to play different mediums on the due date.<\/p>\n

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Activity<\/strong><\/p>\n

When students come together on the due date, divide them into groups of four or five. Ask students to share, in their small groups, which songs they chose as beautiful and why. You can walk around and listen to the groups\u2019 conversations.<\/p>\n

After about fifteen to twenty minutes (based on how you feel the group discussions are going), ask the students to share with their groups the \u201cugly\u201d song they chose and explain why. Give this part of the activity somewhere between five to ten minutes, and again listen to each group\u2019s discussions.<\/p>\n

Bring the class back together in one large group and ask the students whether, when they shared their beautiful songs, they found they chose some of the same ones. What were they? Why did they think they were beautiful? Did anyone else in the class pick those songs? If it turns out that there are a few songs about which the class shares the belief that they are beautiful, ask if students would like to play those songs. When a song is played, listen to the whole piece, unless it is particularly long (in which case you can ask the student to choose a segment to play). When the song is over, ask the student who played it why he or she thought it was beautiful if they haven\u2019t done so already. Ask the rest of the class if they thought the song was beautiful and why. Generally, a few students will volunteer ideas about the song and address why they think it is beautiful.<\/p>\n

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Questions Raised<\/strong><\/p>\n

As students address the whole class, listen to find places to ask follow-up questions about beauty. If you keep your ears open the questions will come easily, and the context will call forth particular queries, but here are a few possible questions:<\/p>\n