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In Defense Of The Reality Of Good Taste - by Ozy Brennan

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Many (most?) uneducated people like certain art which seems “obviously” pretty. But a small group of people who have studied the issue in depth say that in some deep sense, that art is actually bad (“kitsch”), and other art which normal people don’t appreciate is better. They can usually point to criteria which the “sophisticated” art follows and the “kitsch” art doesn’t, but to normal people these just seem like lists of pointless rules. He ends up expressing the most sympathy to the viewpoint that good taste is like religious rules. That is, although good taste is self-consistent and rational, and it’s possible to make mistakes about what is and isn’t in good taste, ultimately the rules are arbitrary. The justifications people give for “good taste”—like that wearing black shoes with white socks is jarring—are semi-fake. He writes: Still, unless you’re a Hindu, you believe the system is completely made up and has no relevance to the real world. You think that Hindu priests are (uninte

In Defense Of The Reality Of Good Taste Art appreciation is a skill Ozy Brennan Dec 15, 2024 326 43 36 Share Scott Alexander recently wrote a post of Friendly and Hostile Analogies For Taste . He writes: Many (most?) uneducated people like certain art which seems “obviously” pretty. But a small group of people who have studied the issue in depth say that in some deep sense, that art is actually bad (“kitsch”), and other art which normal people don’t appreciate is better. They can usually point to criteria which the “sophisticated” art follows and the “kitsch” art doesn’t, but to normal people

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