The Century of Taste: The Philosophical Odyssey of Taste in the Eighteenth Century

by George Dickie

Overview

The Century of Taste offers an exposition and critical account of the central figures in the early development of the modern philosophy of art. Dickie traces the modern theory of taste from its first formulation by Francis Hutcheson, to blind alleys followed by Alexander Gerard and Archibald Allison, its refinement and complete expression by Hume, and finally to its decline in the hands of Kant. In a clear and straightforward style, Dickie offers sympathetic discussions of the theoretical aims of these philosophers, but does not shy from controversy--pointing out, for instance, the obscurities and inconsistencies in Kant's aesthetic writings, and arguing that they have been overrated.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195357134
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/04/1996
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	342 KB

Table of Contents

	Introduction	3
1.	The Basic Theory of Taste: Francis Hutcheson	6
	External Sense and Internal Sense	7
	The Internal Sense of Beauty	8
	Uniformity amidst Variety	15
	Universality of the Sense of Beauty	19
	The Origins of Displeasure and Pleasure	20
	Final Causes	23
	Critical Evaluation of Hutcheson's Theory	23
2.	The Association and Coalescence of Ideas: Alexander Gerard	29
	Internal Sense: Nature and Number	30
	The Coalescence and Association of Ideas	30
	Part 3 of the Essay	43
	Part 2 of the Essay	46
3.	Complete Associationism: Archibald Alison	55
	The Emotion of Taste	57
	Sublimity and Beauty of the Material World	61
	Evaluation of Associationism	69
4.	Taste and Purpose: Immanuel Kant	85
	Judgment in the First Critique	88
	The Metaphysics of Purpose	90
	Kant's Philosophical Beliefs	90
	Seeking System	91
	Seeking Purpose	94
	Purposiveness Gained	96
	Kant's Teleological Theory of Taste	97
	The Transition to the Theory of Taste	97
	The Object of Taste	99
	The Faculty of Taste	103
	Disinterestedness	106
	Universality and Necessity	109
	Beauty of Art: Human and Divine	111
	Evaluation of Kant's Theory of Taste	114
	Beauty	114
	The Faculty of Taste	119
	Teleology	121
5.	Beauties and Blemishes: David Hume	123
	Skepticism Disproved	125
	The Objects and Principles of Taste	126
	Proving the Principles and Defective Cognition	131
	Principles of Taste and Differing Affections	136
	Morality and Art	138
	The Evaluation of Works of Art	140
6.	General Evaluation	142
	Hutcheson and Hume	142
	The Associationists and Hume	145
	Kant and Hume	149
	Index	152