Oddbean new post about login | logout What I think is interesting about this idiom is the notion that an observer is what gives a thing the quality of beauty. Without an observer, there is none. It is the answer to the question: "If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a sound?"
observing creates the property of beauty but the object being observed is unchanged. the conception of beauty remains with the observer. we hide this in language and give attributes to the object, "it IS beautiful," but we are really saying, "i recognize this as beauty given my perspective."