This essay attempts to show how david hume (in "of the standard of taste") sought to strengthen his arguments against taste relativism by appealing to a principle having to do with the points of view that must be entered into if an aesthetic observer is to make unbiased appraisals of works of art. Hume's brief account of the point-Of-View principle is exhibited and expanded. The principle is then evaluated in accordance with monroe beardsley's criterion of aesthetic relativism as expressed in (...) "the refutation of relativism" (jaac 41). (shrink)

The book considers the "critique of judgment" as well as kant's other writings, examining the three related conceptions of aesthetic necessity which kant uses. the author shows that to justify the demands made of subjects on the basis of the experience of beauty we must understand how kant associates beauty and fine art with a community between rational and feeling subjects. this association, in turn, requires us to examine kant's conceptions of genius, of the explanation of actions, of teleology, and (...) of culture. (shrink)