Relation to the world· Aestheticsdifficulty
Hierarchy of tastes
Are some aesthetic pleasures higher than others, or is every hierarchy of taste a social construction?
Is a symphony really worth more than a pop song, or is "good taste" merely the taste of the dominant dressed up as universal? Admitting higher pleasures lets us uplift and educate, but can despise others' joys; putting all tastes on an equal footing respects everyone, but forbids ever saying one work is greater. To take a position is to say whether we can judge taste without simply imposing our own.
Elitism of taste
4Not all tastes are equal: qualified judges, trained and sensitive, recognize true beauty, and some pleasures are qualitatively higher than others. Kitsch and refinement are not on the same level.
Explore this position →Millexplicit
Distinguishing higher pleasures raises a difficulty: by what measure does one rank a quality that, by definition, does not reduce to quantity? Mill's original answer is an empirical criterion: the only judge is comparative experience, the settled preference of those who have known both orders of pleasure alike, the competent judges. Their verdict leans toward the pleasures of the mind, even at the cost of a lesser contentment. The resulting is therefore no matter of birth or class but of cultivation and experience, in principle open to all.
Utilitarianism, ch. 2 (the verdict of the competent judges)
Show more (3)
Platoexplicit
There is an objective hierarchy of pleasures and of the soul's objects: in the , only the philosopher, who has tasted all three kinds of pleasure, can judge which are truest, and his verdict ranks the pleasures of knowledge highest. Pleasures are not of equal worth, and competence to rank them belongs only to the well-ordered soul.
Republic, IX, 580d-583a · Philebus, 51a-53c
Platonisminferable
Owing to objective beauty and the hierarchy of goods, Platonism implies a hierarchy of taste: not all pleasures and objects are of equal worth, and the pleasures of the intellect, ordered to the true and the beautiful, are objectively superior to those of the body. The gradation follows the ladder leading from the sensible to the intelligible.
Plato, Philebus, 51a-53c, the hierarchy of pleasures · Plato, Republic, 580d-587a, pleasures compared
Schopenhauerinferable
The perceives, in the very same thing, what the ordinary man, wholly given over to willing and to use, will never see: there are highly unequal degrees in the capacity to contemplate. The pleasures of the mind sharply rank men, and the 'philistine' is defined by his incapacity to enjoy without interest.
Parerga and Paralipomena, 'Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life'
Egalitarianism of taste
3The hierarchy of tastes is in no way natural: it expresses relations of class. So-called legitimate culture is domination disguised as aesthetic merit, and no pleasure is intrinsically higher than another.
Explore this position →Benthamexplicit
Since only the quantity of pleasure enters the balance, there is nowhere to lodge an intrinsic superiority of one pleasure over another: at equal quantity, a vulgar amusement and an art reputed noble are exactly worth the same. To rank pleasures by their dignity would smuggle in a criterion foreign to pleasure, which the forbids. This egalitarianism of taste is the breaking point with , who would distinguish higher and lower pleasures precisely to parry the charge of a doctrine worthy only of swine: where Mill gives ground, Bentham carries strict quantification through to the end.
The Rationale of Reward (pushpin is as good as poetry)
Show more (2)
Diogenes of Sinopeinferable
Diogenes mocks refinement, luxury arts and distinguished culture as so many vanities: what passes for good taste is mere , a status marker detached from natural need. Before a temple's gilded offerings, before its columns and statues, he sees only pretension. The stance is egalitarian, debunking the imposture behind hierarchies of taste.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives, VI, 24 and 60
Cynicisminferable
The Cynic mocks refinement, luxury arts, and distinguished culture as so many social vanities: what passes for good taste is mere nomos, a status marker detached from natural need. The stance is egalitarian, debunking the pretension behind hierarchies of taste.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives, VI, 24
See the problem map in the Atlas →
Related problems to broaden toward other axes
- DescriptiveWhere the value of beauty comes from
Is beauty a real perfection of things, or merely a pleasure of taste? If it is all a matter of taste, its claim to count in a flourishing life weakens.
a beautiful thingBeauty in life
Quantity of pleasure being equal, pushpin is as good as poetry.Bentham · The Rationale of Reward