unity in diversity in aesthetics, the principle that the parts of the aesthetic object must cohere or hang together while at the same time being different enough to allow for the object to be complex. This principle defines an important formal requirement used in judging aesthetic objects. If an object has insufficient unity (e.g., a collection of color patches with no recognizable patterns of any sort), it is chaotic or lacks harmony; it is more a collection than one object. But if it has insufficient diversity (e.g., a canvas consisting entirely of one color with no internal differentiations), it is monotonous. Thus, the formal pattern desired in an aesthetic object is that of complex parts that differ significantly from each other but fit together to form one interdependent whole such that the character or meaning of the whole would be changed by the change of any part. See also AESTHETICS , ORGANIC. J.A.K.