The Perception of Beauty in David Hume’s Work “Of the Standard of Taste” Essay

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The world is variable. It is impossible to find two absolutely identical persons with the similar characters. Even twins are different from this point of view. The human’s character determines their tastes and points of views. There are no people with absolutely similar opinions, outlooks and preferences.

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Our task is to analyze the David Hume’s work “Of the Standard of Taste”. The author states that, “beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them” (Wartenberg Hume 2006). He gives his arguments that there are lots of opinions about this or that work of art and only one is correct, but it is difficult to decide which one is true. The other his argument is contrary, that all opinions are right, “because no sentiment represents what is really in the object” (Wartenberg Hume 2006). The beauty is an abstract notion and every person perceives is in different way.

There are some features in the works of art which are preferable to all people, and we come out from this fact, when talk about standards of taste. Hume identified the true standards of a beauty, which are “strong sense, united to delicate sentiment, improved by practice, perfected by comparison, and cleared of all prejudice” (Wartenberg Hume 2006). These components are rather necessary, as the critic, who could use them in his judgments “will be agreed in by all mankind” (Wartenberg Hume 2006).

The person who wants to fit the standards of taste and beauty should give very strong arguments to his/her opinion, be free of prejudices and be acknowledged in the discussed sphere. The person should be released from the time and geographical location to give good arguments about the beauty of this or that work of art.

The author states that person with his or her emotions will “reduce every kind of taste or sentiment to its standard” (Wartenberg Hume 2006). Emotions influence the personal opinion about the subject greatly. Emotions direct and rule our lives and behavior in a very significant way. All our actions and tastes are distinguished by our feelings and emotions.

The combination of opinion and feelings author calls the “delicacy of taste”. People can just feel the beauty of art without any ability to explain it, it is just his feelings about some works of are without any concrete explanation.

It may be summarized, that David Hume is rather contradicting in his opinions. He gives absolutely contrasting points of view of whether we can or cannot state the standards of tastes, whether it can or cannot be named some standards of beauty.

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It is very difficult to assess the beauty in general. I definitely agree with the author’s statement that “beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them” (Wartenberg Hume 2006). The perception of beauty is the perception of our minds through our tastes. And as we pointed out, the tastes closely correlate with our feelings and emotions. The perception of any work of art goes through our mind, deals with our feeling and emotions, our character and life principles and only then our mind forms the attitude to it. We understand whether we like it or not, whether we accept it as a beauty or deformity. It is rather complicated intellectual process which happens in our minds.

References

Wartenberg, Thomas E. The Nature of Art. Cengage Learning, 2006.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "The Perception of Beauty in David Hume’s Work “Of the Standard of Taste”." November 6, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-perception-of-beauty-in-david-humes-work-of-the-standard-of-taste/.

1. IvyPanda. "The Perception of Beauty in David Hume’s Work “Of the Standard of Taste”." November 6, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-perception-of-beauty-in-david-humes-work-of-the-standard-of-taste/.


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IvyPanda. "The Perception of Beauty in David Hume’s Work “Of the Standard of Taste”." November 6, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-perception-of-beauty-in-david-humes-work-of-the-standard-of-taste/.

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