Abstract

In the following dissertation, I claim that David Hume assumes two principles in his comments on beauty and criticism. The first is that an aesthetic response is an emotion or feeling of pleasure. Beauty exists in our response to an object, and this is determined as much by our personality and private experiences as by any property of the object. ;I argue in the first three chapters that the reasoning behind this principle can be derived from "of Morals," the third volume of the Treatise. In chapter four, I investigate Hume's perspective on beauty's place among the emotions. And in chapters five and six, I reconstruct his view on how we respond emotionally to aesthetic fiction when we do not believe in its reality. ;Hume's second principle is that an aesthetic response that can be shared with others is superior to one that cannot. But this is possible only if we are able to give reasons for it that transcend personal feelings. And we cannot do this unless it is already amenable to reason. This principle, therefore, resolves into the claim that a proper aesthetic response is founded on rational precepts. ;I examine the apparent contradiction between Hume's principles in the last two chapters. Simple feelings cannot be communicated to others. Nor can they be directly influenced by reason. On the other hand, we compare and judge aesthetic decisions all the time. And he is right, I argue, that reasoning is necessary to performing these actions. ;I claim that Hume successfully resolves this difficulty in his post- Treatise works by developing the argument that reason is the "slave" of emotion. In this capacity, I suggest, it can help us to improve and communicate aesthetic decisions that are fundamentally emotional. ;During the years that the foundations of modern aesthetic philosophy were being laid, Hume envisioned a unified science that addresses its fundamental problems. He also derived his views from an original and coherent view of the mind. I conclude that we should regard his work as a significant contribution to the origin of aesthetics