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Single Idea 8109

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / d. Subjective value ]

Full Idea

I am not within my rights to declare an object beautiful until I have seen it myself, ..unlike moral judgement, which (arguably) does not presuppose either a felt response or personal acquaintance.

Gist of Idea

Aesthetic judgements necessarily require first-hand experience, unlike moral judgements

Source

Sebastian Gardner (Aesthetics [1995], 1.1)

Book Ref

'Philosophy: a Guide Through the Subject', ed/tr. Grayling,A.C. [OUP 1995], p.587


A Reaction

Particularists might argue that moral judgements also require exposure to the actual situation, if they are to be authentic and authoritative. We can also discuss principles of aesthetics in the absence of examples.


The 17 ideas with the same theme [values arising from a human perspective]:

The appraiser's value is what is set by someone experienced in the facts [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius]
Imagination creates beauty, justice and happiness, which is the supreme good [Pascal]
We don't want things because they are good; we judge things to be good because we want them [Spinoza]
Our rational choices confer value, arising from the sense that we ourselves are important [Kant, by Korsgaard]
Values are created by human choices, and are not some intrinsic quality, out there [Kant, by Berlin]
Fichte's idea of spontaneity implied that nothing counts unless we give it status [Fichte, by Pinkard]
Every good is essentially relative, for it has its essential nature only in its relation to a desiring will [Schopenhauer]
We always assign values, but we may not value those values [Nietzsche]
All evaluation is from some perspective, and aims at survival [Nietzsche]
The ruling drives of our culture all want to be the highest court of our values [Nietzsche]
Sartre's freedom is not for whimsical action, but taking responsibility for our own values [Sartre, by Daigle]
If values depend on us, freedom is the foundation of all values [Sartre]
It is by caring about things that we infuse the world with importance [Frankfurt]
If you don't care about at least one thing, you can't find reasons to care about anything [Frankfurt]
Emotions are our life force, and the source of most of our values [Solomon]
Aesthetic judgements necessarily require first-hand experience, unlike moral judgements [Gardner]
A person's activities have value when they receive full attention [Cochrane]