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.

2. Vincent Van Gogh “ Pieta” (1889)

3. Andy Warhol, “Onion Soup” (1968)

5. 1. What is an Aesthetic Attitude?

6. The concept of aesthetic distance: The experience of beauty is different from the experience of pleasure generally.

10. Two aspects of beauty Formal : the look of the thing Content : the reality of the thing

11. Lucien Freud, “Naked Man” (1991)

13. Art critic Lucy Lippard defends the piece using very traditional criteria for evaluating artworks.

18. Andres Serrano , “The Morgue” (1995)

20. “Triumph of the Flesh” (2000)

22. If you fantasize about doing something, would the pleasure of the fantasy experience be greater or less if the experience was in fact real?

23. Paul Cezanne, “Still-life with apples” (1895)

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).

27. Two different attitudes toward these bodies?

28. Can anything be ‘aestheticized’? If so, should it be?

30. “ The greatest work of art?”

31. Wow! Cool! It’s Beautiful!

32. “ The greatest work of art?” The “greatest work of art imaginable for the whole cosmos”?

35. Graydon Parrish, The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy

36. 2. Beauty as a form perceived through a faculty of TASTE.

40. Objectivist View

41. David Hume English Philosopher, 1711-1776

42. “ Taste preserves minds free from prejudice.” -Hume

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.”

46. But is taste objective? Universal? If so, why all the disagreement?

47. Sociological View

48. Def. snob : One who makes birth or wealth the sole criterion of worth. Taste as a tool of the snob.

52. Edo uard Manet, Olympia (1863)

53. Andres Serrano, Piss Christ , 1989

54. Chris Ofili, "Holy Virgin Mary” (1999)

59. Does taste exist?

61. Anti-aesthetic View of Taste

64. "During forty-eight years it has kept the characteristics of a true readymade: no beauty, no ugliness, nothing particularly aesthetic about it..."

67. What is it about beautiful things as objects which makes them beautiful?

69. What about the beauty of nature?

70. And why do so many people find the same things beautiful?

72. 3. Beauty as the subjective effect of a specific geometry

73. Immanuel Kant German Philosopher (1724-1804)

75. DISINTERESTEDNESS

76. FORMALISM

77. UNIVERSAL SUBJECTIVITY

83. Form follows function means: beauty is a quality that indicates a utility or efficiency of the form as a means to an end.

85. To be beautiful= To be well-designed= To be functional. And functionality is valuable because efficiency is valuable.

88. Are there rules for making beautiful faces?