Standards of Taste; Standards of Beauty
Hume & Kant on Art, Aesthetics, and Why They Matter
Image by Dan Farrell from Unsplash
Philosophers delve into matters of every variety. Over centuries, noted thinkers across schools of thought have weighed-in on art and aesthetics. Two revered voices - David Hume and Immanuel Kant - had much to say on beauty, taste, and the part that art and aesthetics play in human life and flourishing. Their assertions fascinate as they stand in opposition to one another. Who were David Hume and Immanuel Kant?
A gregarious conversationalist and giant of the Scottish Enlightenment, David Hume (1711-1776) was a revered essayist and historian who presented groundbreaking philosophical theories on a variety of topics. Hume became known for his brilliant and elegant prose, his approachable manner, his radical Empiricism, and his skepticism toward religion.
A dazzling mind, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was one of the most influential thinkers of the modern age. Kant’s contributions in ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, and aesthetics are profound and his theories continue to be studied and debated by scholars across disciplines to this day. A look now at beauty and taste, as per Hume and Kant.
Subjective or Objective? Where Does Beauty Lie?
Image by David Hofmann from Unsplash
Could it be that beauty is purely subjective? David Hume asserts that it is. Beauty says Hume is subjective, and it exists in the mind alone. Hume further asserts that one single, definable standard of beauty exists. This a bold position to which Immanuel Kant says NO.
Kant argues that beauty is subjective AND beauty is objective - it’s in the mind and it’s also out in the world. In addition, the contrast of feelings and judgements related to beauty make it impossible to point to a single standard of taste. There is no one, definable standard of beauty. Kant claims that beauty depends on attributes that may include proportion, form, pleasantness or point of view, and that when something is placed on a pedestal or stage and called art, that something must demand attention and thought from all who experience it.
Questions about art and beauty often turn to the purpose, affect, and utility of art. Do human beings require beauty? Do we require intentional design? Is beauty required to guarantee physical survival? The answer is that beauty is not required for physical survival. We are here to do more than merely survive however.
Human beings require food, water, and oxygen for our survival. We depend upon and require food, water, and oxygen for our bodies to function. We do not require design, arrangement, symmetry, proportion or beauty to keep our bodies from expiring. Human history, and fields that include psychology, sociology, and neuroscience suggest however that human beings require design, proportion, and beauty to function beyond mere physical survival. In other words, human beings need art, beauty, purposefully-arranged spaces, and aesthetically-pleasing ways to present our bodies and ourselves to LIVE, to exist in a state beyond mere physical survival.
Evidence of pre-historic beings arranging and decorating their dwellings and bodies as an aesthetic practice exists from ancient cave drawings of the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, drawings from ancient Asia Minor, the Middle East, and North Africa also denote arrangement, design, and adornment of homes and bodies for reasons not related to physical survival.
The point? Human beings don’t require arranged living spaces or adorned bodies to physically live. We don’t need paintings, prints or photos on our walls, don’t need to part our hair, wear jewelry or match our socks in the same way that we need food, water, and oxygen. We require beauty however, to preserve ourselves mentally and emotionally, to feel connected, and to feel comfortable in our own skin.
Art Required for Connection & Living
Image by Evan Fitzer from Unsplash
To summarize, for Hume beauty lies in the mind and not in the thing or work of art one beholds. For Kant, beauty is in the mind and in the world, and human beings have the faculties required to perceive and benefit from beauty. On the matter of our need for beauty, human beings don’t require beauty for our bodies to physically function, but there’s more to the story.
Imagine a world without music. Imagine a world without poetry, dance, photography or song. Could we physically survive in a world without art? We could survive but we’d likely not care to do so. We’re more than survivors. We are creators. We flourish and dabble and do. We are artists who need beauty and aesthetic elements not to survive but to live.