Beauty and sensual appeal - far from being antithetical - actually seem to go hand in hand. Still some people insists that the two kinds of pleasure are utterly distinct, even though erotic pleasure may indeed follow in the wake of aesthetic pleasure. Both activities are pleasurable but the pleasures involved are very different: one is a disinterested aesthetic pleasure, the other is a pleasure informed by our self-interest. It points to a sensual joy based on an appetite that we have in common with animals. The contemplation of beauty - by contrast - is unique to us rational beings. That's because beauty is exclusively an object of the mind.