Single Idea 20385

[catalogued under 21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 3. Taste]

Full Idea

To explain why not everyone who is prepared to encounter a thing's aesthetic properties can recognise them, ...eighteenth century theorists posited the existence of a special faculty of aesthetic perception, that of taste.

Gist of Idea

The faculty of 'taste' was posited to explain why only some people had aesthetic appreciation

Source

Stephen Davies (The Philosophy of Art (2nd ed) [2016], 1.2)

Book Reference

Davies,Stephen: 'The Philosophy of Art (2nd ed)' [Wiley Blackwell 2016], p.7


A Reaction

But there seem to be two aspects to taste - first the capacity to enjoy some sorts of art, and second the ability to discriminate the good from the bad. The latter is 'standards' of taste (Hume's title). Do non-musical people lack taste?