PRESIDENT'S ESSAY
Beautiful Proof
POSTED
September 19, 2006

Does beauty compel assent? It certainly seems to.

Ought it? That’s trickier. If an explanation encompasses the data simply and elegantly and beautifully, does that make it a good explanation? Does that make it true? Are the “transcendentals” truly interchangeable? If the explanation does not compel by its beauty, what is the nature of the compulsion?

To download Theopolis Lectures, please enter your email.

CLOSE