Mental Suffering, the Experience of Beauty and Well-Being

Value

USD 80,000

Description

Investigators: Mark Wynn and Tasia Scrutton

Recent empirical studies have identified various correlations between quantitative measures of beauty experience and wellbeing. Our project sought to understand the significance of these correlations by relating them to richly textured descriptions of the experience of beauty. Our sources included depression recovery narratives, and material from the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre archive. Drawing on philosophical and theological sources, we also considered in theoretical terms the connections between emotional experience and the appearance of sensory objects, and asked how religious or spiritual thoughts and practices can make a difference to the colour and structure of a person’s experience of the everyday world. 
 

Project website

http://www.happinessandwellbeing.org/wynn