This document summarizes David Hume's 1757 essay "Of the Standard of Taste". It provides biographical information about Hume and outlines the key issues addressed in the essay. Specifically, it discusses Hume's attempt to resolve the contradiction between subjectivity and objectivity in judgments of taste. Hume argues that while taste is subjective, experience and certain conditions can lead to some judgments being more authoritative than others.
This document summarizes David Hume's 1757 essay "Of the Standard of Taste". It provides biographical information about Hume and outlines the key issues addressed in the essay. Specifically, it discusses Hume's attempt to resolve the contradiction between subjectivity and objectivity in judgments of taste. Hume argues that while taste is subjective, experience and certain conditions can lead to some judgments being more authoritative than others.
This document summarizes David Hume's 1757 essay "Of the Standard of Taste". It provides biographical information about Hume and outlines the key issues addressed in the essay. Specifically, it discusses Hume's attempt to resolve the contradiction between subjectivity and objectivity in judgments of taste. Hume argues that while taste is subjective, experience and certain conditions can lead to some judgments being more authoritative than others.
Portrait of David Hume Esq. Career • 1711-1776, educated in Edinburgh • Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40) • Essays Moral Political and Literary (1751) • Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748) • Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779) • Of the Standard of Taste (1757) Of the Standard of Taste • Hume’s best known treatise on aesthetics • Taste was a fashionable subject in the 18th century • The idea of an inner sense • Tries to resolve the contradiction between subjectivity and objectivity in judgements of taste The problem • There is no standard of taste (individuality) • Taste concerns our sentiments, not the intrinsic nature of the object • No one can be wrong in matters of taste • Yet some people are better judges in matters of art than others and some works more recognised than others • There is a standard of taste (authority) The essay • Relativity of taste – Taste and opinion – Taste and moral sentiments • Two views of taste – A species of philosophy vs. Common sense • Rules derived from experience • Conditions of proper appreciation • Two sources of variation Relativity (variety) of taste • Taste and opinion • Taste and morality Two views of taste • A species of philosophy • Common sense A species of philosophy • Judgement (intellect, reason) • Sentiment (feeling, instinct) Difference • Opinions refer to matters of fact • Sentiments refer to themselves
• Only one opinion may be right
• All sentiments are right Subjectivity of aesthetic judgements
When I say: How this is beautiful!
I mean: I have a certain feeling! The judgement is not about anything in the object but about my own inner state of mind Why are sentiments right? • They do not represent what is really in the object • They mark a certain relation between the object and the mind • Example: Colours Common sense • Some authors are better than others • Some critics are better than others Explanation • The aesthetic qualities are derived from qualities in the objects • Intrinsic qualities in the objects cause a certain feeling in the subject • But the aesthetic qualities are not in the object • Everything depends upon the reception Hume’s position • Judgements of taste are subjective – Describe the emotional attitude of the individual – Do not describe real qualities of things • And based on experience – Not on any a-priori rules or principles – But experience can reveal uniformities Where do standards come from? • Experience reveals certain rules of art • General conformity in what has pleased mankind in all ages and countries • Not agreement on everything • Depends on conditions of appreciation Conditions of appreciation • Delicacy (sensitivity) • Practice (experience) • Comparison (knowledge) • Absence of prejudice (open-mindedness) • Good sense (reason) Sensitivity • So fine that nothing is left • So exact that each detail is included Experience and knowledge • Each work must be considered more than once • From different points of view • Avoid rashness • Evaluate the comparative value of works Open-mindedness • Nothing must disturb the attention to the work itself • The work must be observed on its own premisses • From the point of view which suits it best Reason • Prevents the effect of prejudice • Considers the structure of the work – (harmony and unity of the whole) • Discovers the purpose of the work of art – (if and how it achieves that purpose) Variation • Personality and temperement • Cultural and historical context Hume’s paradox • Good art is the one that good critics estimate to be good • A good critic is one who can appreciate good art Kant on the same subject • Subjective • Universal • Disinterested pleasure – Not from: Gratification – Not from: Purpose – Not from: Moral laudability Bourdieu on taste • Socially acquiered (habitus) not natural • Serves as mark of “distinction”
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