Subjective Perceptions

After reading Hume’s On The Standard of Taste, I had my strongest opinions concerning the first part of his essay. I have to agree with his views regarding individual’s particular sentiments on objects. Hume states “…a thousand different sentiments, excited by the same object, are all right: Because no sentiment represents what is really in the object.” This could not be truer in my opinion, as my personal views of art are strongly anchored by the notion of art largely being a product of a viewer’s perception, in addition to the original intentions of the artist. To explicate this, Hume discusses beauty. Beauty is a quality that is solely in our minds, as it is an intangible idea that every person perceives slightly differently. In reading this, I thought back to our discussions on Plato and his views on reality versus ideas. In much the same manner as I see ideas being an extension of reality, I feel sentiments on art or any other subjects are simply an extension of our personal take on the matter. Our own take is based on a myriad of experiences unique to each individual that have shaped us as a person, thus placing us in the position to judge an object in a number of ways different from others.
Now, not every person has had sufficient life experiences to make an informed opinion on every matter. There is simply no way. As a result we look to other, more learned and specialized scholars, to guide us in shaping our opinions on matters we perceive. This may, I feel, be the rough standard of taste Hume was trying to seek out. Other people specialize in something—such as the wine critic example Hume cited—and others (such as non-wine critics, which includes most people) look to these specialists to provide a standard of which to judge things by. I do not feel that standards are absolute, as any person could create their own. However, the concept of “taste” is an interesting one, as it is highly subjective.