“Then there’s the problem of indeterminacy. Sometimes, the word ‘beauty’ aspires to the solidity of a proper noun, grand and true. Other times, it seems a more nebulous term for an elusive kind of experience.”

The mind is a powerful medicine. Given an ineffective treatment, patients can experience real health improvements by simply believing that the treatment works—the placebo effect. But this blissful delusion has a dark side: when a harmless _...Read More_