But can one really draw the distinction in such absolute terms? When we admire an attractive man or woman, isn’t it precisely their beauty that activates the senses and gives rise to certain bodily passions? And if so, doesn’t this prove that the two are intimately linked? Shaftesbury dismisses this line of thought almost out of hand. After all, we wouldn’t say that it is the beauty of the fruit that attracts and brings joy to the prowling animal in search of food; or that it is the beauty of the food served at the dinner table that makes us humans hungry. What whets and satisfies appetite of both humans and animals is not the striking form, but what lies beneath that striking form, that which is mere matter.  (Accordingly, the more a mouthwatering dish or body is viewed, the further they are from satisfying by mere view.) Just as it is not the material that makes a sculpture beautiful, but rather the artistic intentions and designs that shape the material, so it is not the body in itself, something that is mere matter, that is beautiful: 