Mando wrote: "In art,Taste, though personal in style is when the object is altered, but It's essence or it's symbolic meaning remains intact."
To the contrary, I'd say that Taste is when the "essence or symbolic meaning" of something changes whenever it is altered -- especially if it's something enjoyed/collected as art. (at least - if its an alternation that you can notice) So one of those elegant Indonesian daggers will still cut bread - even after we cover its ornate, majestic handle with a thick, purple epoxy paste -- but I may no longer enjoy looking looking it -- i.e., it will no longer suit the broader interests of my taste. (although I do have a taste for bread sliced a certain thickness -- in fact --that's why I travel an extra distance to a certain bakery) It's not that I systematically dislike all knives with purple handles -- although perhaps some people do -- it's just that I may dislike the effect the new design has on my imagination - it may begin to symbolize disease or goofiness -- or who knows how it will fit into how I feel about things - i.e., my systems of thought and feeling. So I'm using the word 'system', Cheerskep, very broadly in my discussion of taste. I'd also call it a "web of relationships" -- though I wouldn't claim that there's ever an indisputable match between those relationships and any description of them -- or that the web of relationships is finite -- i.e. you've just gotten me thinking about your toothache and George Washington's big toe. Why can't relationships be "the most numerous entities in the world by far?" There are some relationships we pay more attention to than others -- and that's a matter of Taste. So yes -- I am using the word 'taste' much more broadly than you might -- because I don't want to categorically exclude any kind of relationship from consideration -- especially when discussing preferences in the imaginative arts. You've told us that, while doing your taxes, you are uncomfortable about "what makes me feel small, and "introducing an unwanted anxiety into my life." -- but I think those same feelings can arise in response to a work of literature or painting -- especially a discomfort with "what makes me feel small". Some people like to feel small -- you don't, and I don't -- and that might help explain the similar choices we make in some of the imaginative arts. *************************************************************** Cheerskep wrote: Yeah, I did. First off, I'm not sure what you have in mind with 'system', but I'll try this. I have a broad array of personal preferences for devices that I systematically employ to relieve my right thumb of exertions, because I have arthritis there. For example, I dislike buttons of all sizes, and tight jar-tops. I have personal preferences for certain chairs and mattresses to stave off the spasms that plagued me when I was younger. I'm also against touching things that burn me. But I prefer hot showers over cold ones, hot water to shave with rather cold, hot coffee to cold coffee. I systematically do everything I can to avoid standing in line for things. When I may make out my income taxes, my personal preference is systematically to declare everything -- I don't cheat, not because I'm a saint, but it'd make me feel small, and also because it'd introduce an unwanted anxiety into my life. You cite William as supporting you in this, but remember that William conveyed something of his notion of "taste" by saying, "taste -- a sense of beauty". I myself would never say these clusters of preferences I mention display my "taste". "it's a system because it involves a broad -- perhaps even all inclusive - web of relationships." Always beware of the word 'involves'. It says effectively nothing and it tends to suggest you think things are "connected" somehow, but you can't say how. As for "relationships" -- that's one of the fuzziest words in philosophy. Did you know that if you "believe in" "relations" as "real", you must believe they are the most numerous entities in the world by far? Consider the relation between my left toe and a particular toothache George Washington had. Now consider: There must a "relation" between that relation and everything else, including every other relation there is or ever was. And each of those relations-between-relations must in turn be related tob& In sum, Chris, I find your description of your notion of taste inadequate, because, I suspect, the notion itself in your mind is inadequate. _____________________________________________________________ Click for free info on earning your associates degrees. http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2211/fc/Ioyw6ijlTO8KiYWu7F4krNTGJmSkdg M8unGhbV3O9YR6RZaqwdxZ6s/
