Hutcheson claims our external senses cannot provide us with the idea and experience of beauty. For Hutcheson, the sensation of beauty does not arise in us because something looks beautiful or sounds beautiful. Hutcheson's aesthetic theory is a 'subjectivist' theory of beauty. For Hutcheson, the concept of beauty exists in the mind and not in the object. However, subjectivism can lead to aesthetic relativism.
Original beauty is perceived from objects that occur naturally in our experience.
An object is beautiful if it is harmonious. The amount of beauty received from an object results from the amount of harmony and proportion contained within the object. For Hutcheson, geometrical forms are beautiful because of their harmony and proportion. Good architecture, the revolution of the planets, a well-tended garden, are also considered beautiful because of their uniformity in proportion. It should be noted that an object does not have to be tangible to be beautiful.