Given the personal nature of taste, many philosophers have sought to account for taste in terms of certain standards.
Thursday 21 November 2024, 1pm
Lasting treasure or a moments pleasure? Taste and the “test of time.”
Lecturer: Dr. Connell Vaughan
Lecturer in Aesthetics and Cultural Policy
Program Chair, Creative Industries and Visual Culture (CIViC)
TU Dublin School of Art and Design, City Campus
Given the personal nature of taste, many philosophers have sought to account for taste in terms of certain standards. A notable, even seductive, yet, ultimately flawed approach to this fundamental question of judgement, was developed by the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume. His “test of time” offers a standard whereby those works of art that have lasted both physically, and in the reputation of critics, can be deemed to be of greater quality than those that have been forgotten. This talk to mark World Philosophy Day 2024, will reflect on the strengths and limitations of this common-sense idea. While there certainly is merit in the recognition of the collective intelligence of generations of critics, this privileging of the past is a fallacious and biased appeal to tradition as the ultimate source of quality. It overlooks some of the realities of the cultural domain, namely aspects such as first mover privilege, the politics of reviewing, the different material nature of works of art and design and the temporal context of judgements of taste. In short, it will consider the unfair privileging of lasting treasures, at the expense of momentary pleasures.
