Alexander Gerard’s correction of Hume’s standard of taste

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of the standard of aesthetic taste, a criterion by which one could determine thecorrectness of aesthetic judgments. In the 18th century, the problem of aesthetic values of objects of nature and of works of artsand crafts became the central issue of many theories of Аesthetics and Art criticism. The issue of the standard of taste involvesanswering a few basic questions: Is it possible to determine the criterion? Where could such a criterion be found, or who shoulddetermine it? And what exactly is this criterion? In this article I try to answer these questions by comparing two mostcomprehensive conceptions of the period presented by David Hume and Alexander Gerard.