After reading David Hume’s “Of the Standard of Taste”, I immediately noticed a connection with Adam Smith’s “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” in regards to initial judgement before inviting sympathy. Smith writes that if a sufferer’s sentiments and feelings “coincide and tally with our own, we necessarily approve of them as proportioned and suit­able to their objects; if otherwise, we necessarily disapprove of them as extravagant and out of proportion” (Smith 72). As he indicates that listeners subconsciously compare a sufferer’s experience to their own to gauge the relatability and amount of sympathy they will return, it reflects on Hume’s opinions of prejudice. He writes that while a person is biased by their own personal backgrounds and culture, they should not let their prejudices towards another person utterly cloud their judgment. Even if a work of art and poetry is not immediately relatable, analyzing it through a critical lens allows spectators to appreciate their content across the boundaries of time and location. 

An excerpt from Hume’s piece that resonated with me was about the societal flaws of past figures, due to how he did not completely excuse the moral vices of historical heroic characters: “the ideas of morality and decency alter from one age to another, and where vicious manners are described, without being marked with the proper characters of blame and disapprobation, this must be allowed to disfigure the poem, and to be a real deformity” (Hume 19). Many attacks and analyses of historical figures are deflected with the rhetoric that since the past’s morals were less developed, slander of these figures is irrelevant. Hume is essentially stating that although ethical values over the centuries change and are not static, the shortcomings of those in the past should not be entirely immune to criticism, especially if the reprehensible actions of these past figures are not discouraged. This is akin to stating that while Christopher Columbus was a product of European colonial culture, where enslaving indigenous peoples was normalized, it should not excuse the atrocities he committed and paint him in an entirely blameless light. 

A question I have for the class: Levine and Newman write in their keyword article about “Taste”: that fashion and trends evolve and may switch between upper and lower classes. From this statement, what is a food that used to be viewed as a working class dish but is now a delicacy for the rich?