Response to: "A judgement is personal and spontaneous or it is nothing..."

Regarding judgement, every individual has their own preferences that affect their decision making, therefore a judgement could be personal, spontaneous, or even nothing due to disinterest of the subject matter. Judgements are influenced by experiences throughout life that a person is exposed to, or the upbringing they had within a family or society. Thus the judgements of taste are the results of a correlation between object and subject.

Kant stated that there are two types of judgement: subjectivity and universality (Kant, 1928). Being subjectivity relates to personal experience, what individuals see as aesthetically appealing and unappealing. On the other hand, universality is a common interest widely accepted, for example a large amount of people may have a common interest to appreciate a beautiful, green landscape. ‘Sensus Communis’ is a sense shared, according to Kant. In other it’s common sense amongst a vast group of people as they mirror on a similar thought. A common sense is usually open and easy to share when an individual is expressing their feelings. They do not consider the concept as they believe what they say is universally acceptable, and that everyone else will understand. An artist asking an individual, “This is so, isn’t it?”about their work would expect a response they would want to hear, as they believe, to an extent, that their work is universal. Then again, the individual responding to the artist with “Yes, but-“, where they then comment on amplifications and corrections, may also believe what they are stating is also universal, or that their intention was universal as they have been surrounded by people with similar ideas. The artist would take these judgements by the individual as ‘value-judgements’, where they judge on what they believe is right or wrong, beautiful or ugly. Value-judgements are usually subjective, but in this case both persons believed that they were universal. As Wittgenstein (1921) states against Kant’s idea of universal taste, that we live in different modes of time, experience different cultures, learn about different histories. There can never be a true universal taste.

(Kant, I., 1790. Critique of Judgment, trans. Meredith, 1952, Oxford: Oxford University Press)

(Wenzel, H.C., 2007. Wittgenstein and Kant on Judgements of Taste: Situations versus Faculties, vol. XV. Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society, Kirchberg in Wechsel, pp. 239)

Posted by Beverly Cottrell

BA (Hons) Art and Design (Interdisciplinary) Level 2