Hume's Aesthetic Theory: Taste and Sentiment

269 Pages·2001·0.97 MB·English

by  Dabney Townsend

HUME’S AESTHETIC THEORY
ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
1 NATURALIZATION OF THE SOUL
Self and personal identity in the eighteenth century
Raymond Martin and John Barresi
2 HUME’S AESTHETIC THEORY
Taste and sentiment
Dabney Townsend
HUME’S AESTHETIC
THEORY
Taste and sentiment
Dabney Townsend
London and New York
First published 2001
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
© 2001 Dabney Townsend
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Townsend, Dabney, 1941–
Hume’s aesthetic theory: sentiment and taste in the history of aesthetics/Dabney Townsend.
p. cm.—(Routledge studies in eighteenth century philosophy; 2)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Hume, David, 1711–1776—Aesthetics. 2. Aesthetics—History—18th century. I. Title.
II. Series.
B1499.A4 T69 2000
111´.85´092—dc21
00–034467
ISBN 0–415–23396–8 (Print Edition)
ISBN 0-203-18607-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-18730-X (Glassbook Format)
IN MEMORY OF JOHN LEWIS KAYES
1915–2000
The sole end of logic is to explain the principles and operations of
our reasoning faculty, and the nature of our ideas; morals and criticism
regard our tastes and sentiments; and politics consider men as united
in society, and dependent on each other. In these four sciences of
Logic, Morals, Criticism, and Politics, is comprehended almost every
thing, which it can any way import us to be acquainted with, or
which can end either to the improvement or ornament of the human
mind.
Treatise of Human Nature
Introduction, xv–xvi
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments viii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1 Shaftesbury and Hume 12
2 Taste 47
3 Hume’s appeal to sentiment 86
4 The aesthetic/moral analogy 137
5 Rules 158
6 The problem of a standard of taste 180
Notes 217
Bibliography 236
Index 244
vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my colleagues at the University of Texas at Arlington whose
dialogue sustained this project. Garry Hagberg at Bard College, Roger Shiner at the
University of Alberta, Carolyn Korsmeyer at State University of New York at Buffalo,
and Peter Kivy at Rutgers University all read portions of the manuscript at various
points in its development. Members of the American Society for Aesthetics listened
to and commented on portions delivered as conference papers. Special thanks go
to Alex Neill at the University of Southampton who commented extensively on the
penultimate draft.
viii
ABBREVIATIONS
A George Berkeley, Alciphron or The Minute Philosopher. The Works of
George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, ed. A. A. Luce and T. E. Jessop
(London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1964).
EHU David Hume, ‘Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,’ Enquiries
Concerning Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of
Morals, ed. L. A. Selby-Bigge; revised P. H. Nidditch (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1988).
EPM David Hume, ‘Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals,’ Enquiries
Concerning Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of
Morals, ed. L. A. Selby-Bigge; revised P. H. Nidditch (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1988).
H Francis Hutcheson, An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty
and Virtue (London: J. Danby, 1725).
IVM Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, ‘An Inquiry concerning
Virtue or Merit,’ Characteristics, ed. John M. Robertson (Indianapolis:
Bobbs-Merrill, 1964).
L Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, ‘A Letter Concerning
Enthusiasm to My Lord ****,’ Characteristics, ed. John M. Robertson
(Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1964).
M Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, ‘The Moralists, A
Philosophical Rhapsody,’ Characteristics, ed. John M. Robertson
(Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1964).
MR Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, ‘Miscellaneous Reflections
on the Preceding Treatises,’ Characteristics, ed. John M. Robertson
(Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1964).
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