Nicole Somma Art as Objects of taste CR 3

Nicole Somma

The Nature of Art

Art as Objects of Taste: David Hume (38-46)

Class Reading #3

When looking or listening to any type of art,  it is human nature to automatically judge the art and critics its worth. Hume’s theory of art describes the different aspects that qualify humans to be art critics. Hume explores if there is an objective standard for assessing the quality of art.  Hume begins by saying that art is  judged based off of individual tastes. It is natural that people would want to seek a standard of taste, so that we can judge all art work by it, but it is simply not possible. There are certain pieces of art that all humans will find pleasurable. Hume explains that there is universal susceptibility to certain qualities which ensures that there will be universal agreement that some works of art are better than others. “Thus, though the principles of taste be universal, and nearly, if not entirely the same in all men; yet few are qualified to give judgment on any work, or establish their own sentiment as the standard of beauty” (45).  Hume believes that some people are better than others at judging art and only few are well qualified that their responses really count.  “Only those with a “strong sense, united to delicate sentiment, improved by practice, perfected by comparison, and cleared for judgment” (46).

            I for the majority agree with Hume’s theory of judgment.  Although everyone has different opinions, I think that some are more important than others. Clearly, this is true in society today because people get paid to be art critics and their opinions can make or break the career of an artist.  These art critics are trained and have different knowledge about the concept of art compared to a random person on the street. There is when problem I have with Hume’s theory and that is how do we know which opinion to believe? In America alone, there are thousands of art critics that are qualified and exemplify all of Hume’s qualifications, yet they have conflicting views on the same piece of art.  Then does it come down to the individuals opinion?