1. Of the Standard of Taste
Hume
Of the Standard of Taste

2. Portrait of David Hume Esq.

3. Career 1711-1776, educated in Edinburgh
Treatise of Human Nature ( )
Essays Moral Political and Literary (1751)
Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748)
Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779)
Of the Standard of Taste (1757)

4. 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

5. 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)
Subjectivity and no one wrong / some wrong, some right / objectivity; for Hume a question of experience; caused by intrinsic qualities of the work.

6. The essay Relativity of taste Two views 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

7. Relativity (variety) of taste
Taste and opinion
Taste and morality

8. Two views of taste
A species of philosophy
Common sense

9. A species of philosophy
Judgement (intellect, reason)
Sentiment (feeling, instinct)

10. Difference Opinions refer to matters of fact
Sentiments refer to themselves
Only one opinion may be right
All sentiments are right

11. 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

12. 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

13. Common sense Some authors are better than others
Some critics are better than others

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. Conditions of appreciation
Delicacy (sensitivity)
Practice (experience)
Comparison (knowledge)
Absence of prejudice (open-mindedness)
Good sense (reason)

18. Sensitivity So fine that nothing is left
So exact that each detail is included

19. Experience and knowledge
Each work must be considered more than once
From different points of view
Avoid rashness
Evaluate the comparative value of works

20. 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

21. 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)

22. Variation
Personality and temperement
Cultural and historical context

23. 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

24. Kant on the same subject
Subjective
Universal
Disinterested pleasure
Not from: Gratification
Not from: Purpose
Not from: Moral laudability

25. Bourdieu on taste Socially acquiered (habitus) not natural
Serves as mark of “distinction”