Arts & Ideas Taste
Mar 16, 2026
Le Gateau Chocolat, an opera singer and performer, reflects on opera spaces, race and live reception. Emma Dabiri, writer and broadcaster, explores culture, race and beauty politics. John Callanan, Kant scholar, outlines philosophical views on aesthetic judgment. Sarah Smith, film historian, examines film canons, gender and criticism. They debate taste, style versus substance, class, race and AI's role in shaping aesthetics.
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Taste Is A Social Construction
- Taste is socially constructed and tied to power structures like gender and race.
- Sarah Smith highlights that categories of good/bad taste reflect who is included or excluded by social norms.
Kant's Universal Claim For Taste
- Immanuel Kant argued aesthetic judgments are subjective but can claim universal validity through shared form-based reasons.
- John Callanan explains Kant's normative force: appeals to form, balance, repetition can persuade others to appreciate an artwork.
Kant Democratized The Idea Of Taste
- Kant reframed taste from elite arbitration to a universal capacity that invites reasons and persuasion.
- John Callanan contrasts Hume's 'ideal judges' with Kant's idea that anyone can engage in aesthetic judgement.