Beauty in nature according to Vladimir Soloviev

This article presents a chapter from Michelina Tenace's thesis devoted to the aesthetics of Vladimir Soloviev, a Russian philosopher and theologian of the nineteenth century. The study analyzes the conception of beauty in nature as Soloviev develops it in his eponymous 1889 essay. The approach is both philosophical and theological: the author systematically expounds the Solovievian vision of an evolving nature structured into five kingdoms — mineral, vegetable, animal, human, and divine — in which beauty manifests itself as the incarnation of a supramaterial ideal principle. The central idea is that beauty results from the union of light and matter, paradigmatically illustrated by the diamond. The major contribution of the article lies in its highlighting of a non-evolutionist conception of evolution, articulating modern scientific data with a mystical vision of transfiguration, thereby situating aesthetics within a Christocentric theology of creation and redemption.