The Judgment of Taste

Abstract

We now come to what is usually called the judgment of taste—that is, the judgment passed upon a certain object that it is or is not beautiful. It seems desirable at this point to say something about the question whether or not this is a useful topic for aesthetic consideration and whether it is a judgment that is ever made, as a matter of fact, in its simple form. I agree at once with my inevitable critics that such an expression is hardly ever used. (As we noticed before, the late Professor J. L. Austin wished that aestheticians would concern themselves with the dainty and the dumpy rather than with the beautiful and the ugly.) However, the actual form of words used seems to me to be irrelevant. It might be “This is it,” “This is the real thing,” or whatever happens to be the current expression of approval. Just so long as that which all these expressions are being used for is to attribute aesthetic excellence to “this,” any of these expressions will do. Even here I have incurred a criticism from Professor Muriel Bradbrook, who objected strongly that this was to give in most weakly to a sloppiness of expression.