David Hume, an eighteenth-century philosopher from Scotland, is famous and significant for his rather skeptical approach to a number of philosophical ideas and subjects. Hume introduced his unique thoughts regarding epistemology, religion, and moral theory, providing an opportunity for further discussions and inspiring future philosophers, namely, John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham (Fieser, n.d.). His main ideas were about the absence of permanent “self” that continues over time, cause-effect relations being grounded in thinking habits, and naturally-instilled beliefs navigating people through common life. Among other things, Hume’s perception of the concepts of taste and beauty is also rather special.
For this philosopher, these two concepts cannot be either true or false since both taste and beauty are impressions in each person. According to Hume, one is not born with a perfect or a better sense of taste; on the opposite, people may acquire and train their perceptions so that they can judge more aesthetically (Fieser, n.d.). Thus, whether one has a good sense of beauty and taste depends on their practice, background, and experience. When it is possible for everyone to respond to the usual flavors, a specific “delicacy” of taste is required to learn how to hone the taste buds. Human nature dictates that certain objects constantly trigger feelings of beauty within people (Fieser, n.d.). Therefore, a sense of artistic beauty may also be refined, which, in turn, can lead to better cultivation of a “delicacy” of taste.
In my opinion, Hume’s perception of these two concepts is rather reasonable and engaging. According to my experience, it is indeed possible to develop a good sense of both taste and beauty, and background and practice play a significant role in this development. However, I may also notice that some people seem to be born with a “delicacy” of taste because they have it since early childhood and do not require years of training to learn how to judge aesthetically. Therefore, in rare cases, beauty and taste may be inborn, and this is when one may be called a genius.
Reference
Fieser, J. (n.d.). David Hume (1711-1776). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web.