HUME- 1711-1776, Scottish Philosopher and Historian.

Hume talks about the good and bad qualities agreed universally by every writer and all men in
nations. Virtue will always imply praise and vice does blame and no one would applause vice or
evil and no one would degrade virtue or good- “every action is blamed or praised” he gives
example of homer’s general precepts where he represents heroism in Achilles and prudence in
Ulysses, intermixing ferocity in former and cunning and fraud in latter. Says that every
expression imply either a degree of blame or praise.
But a species of philosophy differs as the difference between judgment and sentiment is wide.
“All sentiment is right; because sentiment has a reference to nothing beyond itself, and is
always real, wherever a man is conscious of it. But all determinations of the understanding are
not right, because they have a reference to something beyond themselves, to wit, real matter of
fact; and are not always conformable to that standard”c
Plenty of opinions may be entertained by men but only one opinion is true and just, but all the
sentiment on one object or things are all right as it doesn’t represent what is in the object but a
certain conformity or relation between the object and organs or faculties of mind and the
sentiments have a being because of this conformity. Hume then says that beauty is not in object
but the mind contemplates it and each mind perceives it differently.
Hume implies that none of the rules of composition are based on reasonings, rather they stem
out of the “general observations, concerning what has been universally found to please in all
countries and all ages” He says if a work of art is made or the imagination work with the rules
and laws of geometrical truth and exactness would be disagreeable and universally would be
found as tasteless. But the poetry, he asserts, must be confined by the rules of art. If some
irregular writers have pleased then they have possessed other beauties or they have please so
in spite of these transgressions. He gives an example of Ariosto, that he pleases by “his bizarre
mixture of the serious and comic styles” “by the readiness and variety of his inventions” “by his
natural picture of passions”
He says that even though the general rules of art are set on experience and on observation of
common sentiments of human nature, we can’t be sure that men’s feelings will be conformable
to those rules. Even a little exterior hindrance can disturb their motion as these finer emotions
are very tender and delicate in nature and require the concurrence of favorable circumstances
to make them play with facility and exactness.
He continues with the point that many don’t feel proper sentiment of beauty because of the want
of the delicacy of imagination which everyone pretends to and talks of it and reduces every kind
of taste or sentiment to its standard. Then he proceeds with the example of two squires with
great noses who taste wine and give two different judgments on it, one that it has a leather taste
and the other a taste of iron, and at the bottom of it, there is an old key found with a leathern
thong tied to it. When the organs are so fine as to allow nothing to escape them and perceive
every ingredient we call it the delicacy of taste. “A good palate is not tried by strong flavours; but
by a mixture of small ingredients, where we are still sensible of each part, notwithstanding its
minuteness and its confusion with the rest”
Hume then contradicts his previous comment on the rules of art by saying that after acquiring
experience in particular thing or object, one can give the judgment better than the one who don’t
acquire any experience on it. “In a word, the same address and dexterity, which practice gives
the execution of any work is also acquired by the same means, in the judging of it”
Then he moves on to another point which is the comparison between artworks. He says that
when contemplating any order of beauty, we are obliged to form comparisons between several
species and degrees of excellence. A man who has had no opportunity of comparing different
kind of beauties is totally unqualified to pronounce an opinion with regard to any object
presented to him. A comparison alone can rate the merits of work and assign its proper rank
among productions of genius. Again, contradicting his statement, he says that a critic should
fully preserve his mind from all prejudices and allow nothing to enter into his consideration but
the very object which is submitted to his examination. “Prejudice is destructive of sound
judgment”
He says that every work of art has a certain purpose or end, like poetry to please by imagination
and passion, eloquence to persuade, and history to construct. These ends we must carry
constantly in our view, and we must be able to judge how far the means of employed are
adapted to their respective purposes.
He says even if principles of taste be universal, yet few are qualified to give judgmen on any
work of art or establish their own sentiment as standard of beauty. “Strong sense, united to
delicate sentiment, improved by practice, perfected by comparison, and cleared of all
prejudice,can alone entitle critics to this valuable character; and the joint verdict of such,
wherever they are to found, is the true standard of taste and beauty”
*predilection- a preference or special liking for something.
Hume tries to account for the possibility of a reconciliation between two conflicting tenets that
characterize judgments of taste: namely, the obvious appeal to sentiment involved in it and the
equally explicit reference to certain qualities in the object. Beauty, for Hume, is a type of
sentiment, a sentiment of approbation derived from the pleasure felt in the contemplation of the
beautiful object and as such, it is as much related to considerations of objective worth as it is to
the feeling of pleasure.