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Why do we see beauty as virtuous and ugliness as a problem to be fixed? Two philosophers explain
Think of a storybook villain.
The Phantom of the Opera, Ursula the Sea Witch, the Evil Stepmother.
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By Anna Levy for The Philosopher’s Zone
They all have something in common: Ugliness.
As researchers and advocates have long pointed out, baddies are almost always depicted as unattractive — consider Scar from The Lion King or Batman’s The Joker — while goodies are not only virtuous but beautiful.
Philosopher Heather Widdows believes we should take a closer look at why.
Historically, she says, fairytales were not telling stories about physical ugliness but “moral ugliness” instead.
Somewhere along the line, however, “we’ve translated them to be about how attractive the…