Beauty has a decisive relationship to knowledge. Nothing is beautiful, but only because it is known; likewise, the origin of beauty may be ugliness coming to an awareness of itself. Because knowledge always involves projection of human values onto its object, and could only be knowledge of being, it is thus an illusion. The portrayal of expertise, as far as it must involve a metaphysical error, is beautiful; and the progress of knowledge is the transformation of the ugly into the beautiful. Philosophical reflection in terms of procreation and childbirth: the philosopher is pregnant with wisdom and requires a beautiful soul (Socrates) as midwife to bring this wisdom to term. The lover does not pursue beauty per se but gives birth ‘in beauty’. Thus, for example, history must be ‘overcome’ and ‘bathed in beauty’ for genius to be born. Beauty urges one towards procreation (either sexually or spiritually). The influence of Plato also contributes to the consideration of thinking of beauty as feminine. This feminine beauty means protective, preserving, approximating to being (i.e. relatively unchanging). The feminine and masculine become moments in an account of creativity.