These
principles, they would admit, are more difficult of application than
the simpler logical rules, owing to the greater subtlety and complexity
of art, yet, when found, have an equal validity within their own field.
On the other hand, the view that "there is no disputing about tastes"
has never lacked adherents. According to this view, criticism can be
only a report of personal, enthusiastic appreciation or repugnance
without claim to universality. Anatole France, surely a master of such
criticism, has expressed this conviction as follows: "L'estetique ne
repose sur rien de solide. C'est un chateau en Pair. On veut l'appuyer
sur Pethique. Mais il n'y a pas d'ethique. Il n'y a pas de sociologie"
... And again, in the same preface to _La Vie Litteraire:_ "Pour
fonder la critique, on parle de tradition et de consentement universel.
Il n'y en a pas. L'opinion presque general, il est vrai, favorise
certains oeuvres. Mais c'est en vertu d'un prejuge, et nullement par
choix et par effet d'une preference spontane. Les oeuvres que tout le
monde admire sont celles que personne n'examine." Although the classic
view is, I think, nearer the truth, let us examine the arguments that
may be advanced in favor of the impressionistic theory, as it has been
called. What is there about aesthetic appreciation that makes it
seemingly so recalcitrant to law?
First, every aesthetic experience is unique, and therefore, it is
claimed, incomparable. Art is the expression of personality, and
personality is always individual.
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