To take the most obvious example, the colours of flowers are more attractive to insects that will help them propagate. But what is it that attracts and why? There are many aspects of the beauty of the forms of plants and trees – their elegant, delicate or majestic shapes and forms – that go well beyond any such mechanism, are probably not apparent to the insect eye at all, and convey no additional advantage. So why are they so beautiful to humans, who do not share a common ancestor with insects? Why aren’t they a matter of indifference to us? The colours and forms, and the sweet scents, of
...more
