Cool (aesthetic) - Overview

Overview

There is no single concept of cool. One of the essential characteristics of cool is its mutability—what is considered cool changes over time and varies among cultures and generations.

Nick Southgate writes that, although some notions of cool can be traced back to Aristotle, whose notion of cool is to be found in his ethical writings, most particularly the Nicomachean Ethics, it is not confined to one particular ethnic group or gender.

Although there is no single concept of cool, its definitions fall into a few broad categories.