Flaws in Humes Idea on Universal Standard of Taste - Essay Example

? Flaws in Hume’s Idea on Universal Standard of Taste ID Number & Total Number of Words: 2,261 Introduction Artworks may come in a form of a drawing, a painting, sculpture, photographs, or other form of visual media. Each piece of artwork can give the public audiences a different level of sensual experience. Some people may receive a positive mood or feelings just by looking at a piece of artwork. However, the same piece of artwork may not deliver the same positive experience to other people. Since people have different ways of appreciating the beauty of visual arts, it is necessary on the part of the acedemic world to take a closer look on how “taste” can affect how each person will perceive the quality of visual arts. David Hume is one of the famous philosophers of Enlightenment1, 2. Specifically Hume has a unique way of expressing his own opinion with regards to the universal standard of taste. To give the readers a better understanding of this subject matter, this study will first discuss Hume’s idea with regards to the standard of taste. After analyzing how Hume was able to reconcile the idea of a universal standard of taste with the diversity of actual taste that he observed, this study will identify and thoroughly discussed several objections which may arise out of his arguments. Hume’s Idea with Regards to the Standard of Taste The standard of taste is heavily based on people’s nature. Given that a group of people share the same interests, it means that they have the same standard of taste. When it comes to artworks, Hume argued that there will always be a group of people who will be contented and not contented with the quality of artwork they see in front of them and that only time can really tell whether or not the piece of artwork would still outstand other similar types of artistic crafts3, 4. In Hume’s writings on the standard of taste, he tackled the issue with regards to the essential differences between artistic “facts” and “artistic sentiments”5, 6, 7 In line with this, Hume mentioned that judgement based on sentiments does not contain the truth behind the real value of artworks. Given that each person’s artistic taste is totally different from that of another person, Hume’s argument that ‘judgement based on sentiments does not contain the truth behind the real value of artworks’ seems to be based on facts8. Since people’s judgement on artworks are mostly “subjective’ and based on “pleasure”9, 10, Hume took the position that most of the judgements based on taste are not only illogical but also ridiculous11, 12. According to Hume, the two (2) main sources of such sentiment is highly based on either the personal disposition of each person or the moral differences which may arise out of each person’s cultural differences13, 14. In line with this, Hume’s concept of personal disposition in the standard of taste means that each individual has their own taste or preferences when it comes to artistic works. On the other hand, Hume’s idea of moral differences in the standard of taste means that the moral beliefs of each person can significantly affect their aesthetic subjectivism when it comes to the process of judging a piece of artwork. With regards to the cultural differences of each person, Hume mentioned that each type of culture will have a unique set of customs that can affect the way people perceive the same piece of artwork15. For this reason, the presence of cultural differences alone should be considered as one of the most significant factor that can make a highly competitive judge to be prejudice when it comes to judging a good piece of artwork16. On top of these two (2) major factors that could affect each person’s judgement based on sentiments, Hume mentioned that each piece of artwork has its own unique beauty that can easily attract a group of people17, 18, 19. There are quite a lot of factors that can affect a person’s taste. One of the these factors includes the differences in visual and spatial perception20. In line with this, Hume mentioned that the way each person is able to judge a piece of artwork is highly dependent on “personal idiosyncrasy”21. For instance, there are some people who based their individual judgment on artwork pure feelings. If a group of people are happy and contented with the piece of artwork they see, most of them may end up automatically saying that the piece of artwork is outstanding even though the piece of artwork does not literally contain too much detail or is too plain for other people. In line with this, Hume clearly explained that the pleasure each person can receive out of looking at a piece of artwork is simply based on the “power of art to attract and hold us”22, 23. In most cases, people’s judgement or critics made based on taste can result to biased judgement. For this reason, the use of taste in perceving the quality of an object makes the audience failed to notice the true value and deeper qualities of an artwork. According to Hume, the taste of a person can be classified as either “refined taste” or “vulgar taste”24. In line with this, Hume explained that having a “refined taste” is referring to judgement that is often based on “the higher excellencies of art” whereas having a “vulgar taste” is based solely on subjective responses without any concrete evidences to the facts25. In other words, one can say that the concept of a “vulgar taste” is highly based on idiosyncratic or personal judgement. For this reason, a “refined taste” should be considered as a more stable judgement when it comes to evaluating a piece of artwork. Considering that each person has a different taste in artworks, Hume mentioned that there is a strong possible that very few people who has a high quality taste will be able to determine a superior piece of art from those that does not offer the same finest and quality26. This particular argument strongly suggest that the standard of taste is highly based on the “joint verdict” of several highly competitive and qualified critics27. However, Hume’s idea with regards to the use of joint verdicts opens a long-list of questions particularly on the part of most philosophers around the world. Discussion After reading and analyzing Hume’s idea with regards to the standard of taste, I strongly agree that each person has a unique taste when it comes to judging a piece of artwork. However, there are quite a lot of flows with regards to how Hume’s idea on standard of taste. First of all, even though a large group of people can have a common taste when it comes to judging a piece of artwork, this argument does not confirm the real meaning of standard of taste. Although there is a strong possiblity wherein a large group of people would share the same feelings about a piece of artwork, it does not necessarily mean that other people should be obliged to feel the same about the same piece of artwork. Therefore, the idea of standard of taste seems to be too good to be true. There is also slight shift from talking about people’s subjective comment about a piece of artwork towards a more normative realism28. For example, Hume strongly acknowledged the idea that people’s critics on artworks are mostly subjective by nature and are mostly based on their own individual sentiments29. On one end of the story, Hume started discussing about the differences between a good and a bad critics30. It means that some people’s critics or judgement on artworks are much better and more accurate as compared to the judgement of other people. If Hume firmly acknowledged the idea that the people’s judgement on artworks is purely based on subjective remarks, then he should no longer mention that there are some people who are far more credible when it comes to judging a piece of art work. It means that Hume should just accept the fact that each person has a unique way of perceiving the quality of an artwork. In the study of philosophy, the word “standard” can be defined as “a rule or principle that is used as a basis for judgment”31. Based on the definition of the word standard, a universal standard of taste is actually pertaining to a set of rule or principle that people all over the world should follow when it comes to their preferred taste. In the previous part of this essay, it was clearly mentioned that each person has a unique way of appreciating or accepting artworks that are presented to them. Since each person can either accept or reject a piece of artwork, Hume’s concept of standard of taste is not only impossible to materialize but also contradicting to what he mentioned about standards and people’s taste in general32. There is actually no truth behind the a universal standard of taste. As a common knowledge, people’s taste will always vary from one to another. For example, there are some people who could receive pleasure out of starring at colourful images. Given that the artist was able to use the viewer’s favorite colour, there is a higher chance wherein the artist will be able to satisfy the taste and preferences of its target audeinces. However, not all people can receive the same pleasant feelings out of staring at colourful images. Some people may prefer to look at dark coloured images that projects some horrible events that has happened to the artist’s life. By taking these two arguments into consideration, one can say that there is really no universal standard when it comes to the people’s choices in artworks. Even though Hume talked about the need to have a joint verdict of highly competent and qualified critics33, one can say that the idea of having a universal standard of taste is purely a misconception that people should avoid to accept. Even though Hume has a good point when it comes to his idea of having a refined taste, there will always be some reasons as to why people should reject the idea that having a joint verdict of highly competent and qualified critics is the best way to measure the quality of an artwork. First of all, having a group of highly competent and qualified critics will never be enough to serve as a standard of taste for each and every piece of artwork that will be produced by a large group of artists all over the world. Within this context, the judgement of these so-called “competent and qualified critics” is not enough to be the universal standard basis of a good piece of quality artwork. Furthermore, these so-called “competent and qualified critics” are also basing their judgement on their own individual sentiments34. For this reason, there will always be some cases wherein the so-called “competent and qualified critics” will end up making a prejudice remarks on certain piece of artworks. Conclusion Based on Hume’s writings with regards to the standard of taste, there are strong evidences that the author has exerted a lot of effort in trying to determine how taste could affect people’s judgement when it comes to examining a piece of artwork. Despite Hume’s long explanation with regards to the signficant of taste in people’s judgement and preferences in artworks, the authors failed to provide its readers with a convincing explanation with regards to this particular subject matter35. Other than not being able to come up with a strong explanation with regards to the signficant of taste in people’s judgement and preferences in artworks, there were quite a lot of flaws in Hume’s argument on the universal standard of taste. First of all, the slight shift with regards to the people’s subjective comment about a piece of artwork towards a more normative realism point-of-view opens some conflict with regards to Hume’s personal stand on the issue of taste. In general, the “joint verdict” of several highly competitive and qualified critics could only promote a strong prejudism when it comes to judging an artwork36. Given that Hume firmly acknowledged the idea that the people’s judgement on artworks is purely based on subjective remarks, then he should no longer have mentioned that there are some people who are far more credible when it comes to judging a piece of art work. By doing so, Hume was actually sending some mixed signal or mixed and conflicting information to his target audiences. Each person has a unique taste when it comes to judging a piece of artwork. Since there are no two or more people alike, the judgment of people will either be the same or conflicting to one another. Because of the differences in the way people perceive the beauty of arts, this study strongly concludes that there is no universal standard of taste. It means that Hume’s concept of universal standard of taste is not only impossible to materialize but also contradicting to what he mentioned about the diversity of actual taste that he observed. On a realistic point-of-view, Hume was right that people with refined taste can serve as a better judge as compared to those people with “vulgar taste”37. However, people should not forget the fact that having a group of highly competent and qualified critics will never be enough to serve as a universal standard of taste for each and every piece of artwork that will be produced by a large group of artists all over the world. References Andrew Hemingway, “The Sociology of Taste in the Scottish Enlightenment.” Oxford Art Journal 12, no. 2 (1989), 3-35. Bob Zunjic, David Hume: Of the Standard of Taste, An Outline, http://www.uri.edu/personal/szunjic/philos/Standard.htm (accessed November 20, 2012). Brian Ribeiro, “Hume's Standard of Taste and the de gustibus Sceptic.” British Journal of Aesthetics 47, no. 1 (2007), 16-28. Carol Adlam and Juliet Simpson. Critical Exchange: Art Critism of the Eighteenth and Nineteeth Centuries in Russia and Western Europe. (Germany: Peter Long AG, International Academic Publishers, 2009) Dabney Townsend, Hume's Aesthetic Theory: And Taste and Sentiment. (London: Routledge, 2001) Dictionary.com, Standard: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/standard (accessed November 20, 2012). Gordon Graham, Philosophy Of The Arts: An Introduction To Aesthetics. (Oxon, OX: Routledge, 2005) James Shelley, “Hume's Double Standard of Taste.” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 52, no. 4 (1994), 437-445. Jerrold Levinson, “Hume's Standard of Taste: The Real Problem.” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 60, no. 3 (2002), 227-238. Koen Vermeir and Michasel Funk Deckard. The Science of Sensibility: Reading Burke's Philosophical Enquiry. (London: Springer, 2012) Paul Guyer, Values of Beauty: Historical Essays in Aesthetics. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2005) Peter Kivy, “Remarks on the Varieties of Prejudice in Hume's Essay on Taste.” Journal of Scottish Philosophy 9 (2011), 111-115. Peter Sabor and Paul Yachnin, Shakespeare and the 18th Century. (Hampshire, GU: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2008) Richard Shusterman, Surface and Depth: Dialectics of Criticism and Culture. (New York: Cornell University, 2002) Ted Gracyk, Hume's Aesthetics. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/hume-aesthetics (accessed 20 November 2012) Read More