Taste and Beauty

Our perspectives on taste and beauty can be compared to each person’s perspective on morals. Hume states, “Since people have different feelings about right and wrong, there is not any standard of morals, any more than there is a standard of taste” (Camp, 1997). It is hard to pinpoint an exact thing to be “beautiful” when everyone’s ideas of beauty are different. On the contrary, we as humans have come up with ideas of “beauty standards” that most people agree to be recognized as beautiful. The standard is set in relation to how humans relate to one another by means of connection and agree upon these ideas. This agrees with what Hume believes, “judgments of taste are ‘intersubjective’: people with taste tend to agree with each other” (Freeland,2003). Hume believed taste is acquired once a human develops a certain state of consciousness that leads to universal agreement. Beauty also relies on the object, or artwork itself and does not solely have to do with a person’s perspective. Kant believed, “There is a complex interplay among our mental faculties including perception, imagination, and intellect or judgment” (Freeland, 2003). As humans, we must have all these qualities to be able to appreciate both taste and beauty.

Hume's theory relates to how individuals understand art. A lot of people base art on their perspectives, some people enjoy abstract while others enjoy realism, but there is often mutual agreement on both sides. The evolution of art is impacted by what society finds beautiful at the time art is made, that’s why art sometimes later becomes popular years after it was created. Kant believed beauty was found in art that is purposive without a purpose and can be seen through how others relate to art through their own experiences. Art transforms others from their minds and into themselves.

Shigeko Kubota, Vagina Painting, 1965

The painting by Kubota is an example of how taste is up to a person’s perspective. Many women may be able to relate to the art piece and enjoy the work while men would not have the same relation or understanding. The piece is considered beautiful due to it having purposive without purpose. Kubota painting has a theme of femineity and highlighting the vagina but can be interpreted in many ways and is open to other perspectives to create meaning.

Freeland, C. (2003). Art Theory. Oxford University Press Academic UK. 

Van Camp, J. (n.d.). Of The Standard of Taste. “of the standard of Taste” (Hume Archives). https://users.rowan.edu/~clowney/Aesthetics/philos_artists_onart/hume_standard.htm