The document discusses different views on beauty and taste from an aesthetic perspective. It references works of art and examines theories from philosophers such as Kant, Hume, and Duchamp. Kant's view of beauty is summarized as seeing it as the subjective effect of a specific geometry, where beauty is perceived purposiveness without an actual purpose through distinterestedness, formalism, and universal subjectivity.
24. “ With an apple, I will astonish Paris.” - Paul C ézanne (1870)
25. “ Of an ordinary painter’s apple, you say ‘I could take a bite out of it.’ Of Cezanne’s apple, you say ‘It’s beautiful.” - French painter and theorist Paul Serusier (1863)
26. Beauty as aesthetic versus pleasurable The perception of beauty is disinterested : If you find something beautiful, you are valuing it for it’s own sake, not for any value that the object has for your sake. You are distinguishing it from reality (art versus a mere thing).
43. “ It is natural for us to seek a Standard of Taste; a rule, by which the various sentiments of men may be reconciled; at least, a decision, afforded, confirming one sentiment, and condemning another.”
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46. But is taste objective? Universal? If so, why all the disagreement?
64. "During forty-eight years it has kept the characteristics of a true readymade: no beauty, no ugliness, nothing particularly aesthetic about it..."
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67. What is it about beautiful things as objects which makes them beautiful?