We are more than familiar with expressions such as "She has absolutely no taste!", or "This man obviously has taste!", and even more often we hear "Made with taste". Of course, this is not about food. In this article we will try to reveal such a thing as aesthetic taste. This is something that is inherent in all of us, something that is part of the personality of each person. It is one of the many prisms through which we see the world around us.
Analysis and interpretation of the term
So, first you need to systematize everything and decide what aesthetic taste is. This is an internal sensation or even a feeling that forms in our minds satisfaction or dissatisfaction with this or that phenomenon, object, action, etc. It is worth noting that there are so-called generally accepted "beautiful" objects and phenomena that cause spiritual satisfaction in everyone(or representatives of a particular culture), but there are individual ones. As an example for the first category, one can name a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, any one - everyone will admire it. An example for the second category is a wardrobe object. Someone will like him a lot, while another person will begin to annoy. Actually, this is the very concept of a person’s aesthetic taste, but we’ll tell you a little later about why everything turned out that way.
History
It may seem to you that a person has been endowed with such a feeling as taste since he appeared on Earth, and you will be absolutely right. We are rational beings, and even living in caves, our ancestors learned to draw beautiful patterns on stones that would please the eye. Of course, at the time when such powers as Egypt, China, Babylon appeared on the world map, the realm of aesthetics already dominated people. Only they didn’t characterize him in any way, they didn’t realize what it was and why it happened. People were simply guided by the concepts of "like" / "dislike", "beautiful" / "ugly", etc. For the first time, mankind started talking about this concept from a scientific point of view only in the Renaissance, when the cult of beauty exceeded all former limits. German philosophers finally formed the judgment that we are still guided by: aesthetic taste is a person's ability to distinguish beautiful from ugly.
What comes first?
This question will always be relevant for philosophers of the whole world and of all times. We are talking about matter and consciousness - what appeared earlier? So far, no correct answer has been given to it, and it is precisely for this reason that the second problem has “leaked out” of it - what forms a person first of all? His own consciousness or society? It will be very difficult to answer, and first of all because all people are different. We clearly see how some individuals are influenced by the media, follow fashion, politics, while others live their own, abstract life. But in order to explain such a phenomenon as the formation of aesthetic taste, let's take the following principle as a basis: initially, society influences a person, introducing norms and orders in his mind. This comes easily, since he is still a child and has no experience. In the future, the person begins to "dig" in herself, and she has new views on life.
Family and basic principles
This is the first and key source of the formation of taste qualities, which operates both on a conscious level and on a subconscious one. On the part of the parents, the aesthetic taste is nurtured in the child through the performance of certain actions, behavior, manners, etc. These are the basic principles of our interaction with society. It may seem at first glance: where is the aesthetics here? But it is everywhere, permeates every sphere of being. Remember, did it happen to you that you did not like some person and annoyed you because he is just like that - with his appearance, with his facial expressions and gestures? This is because in yourthe subconscious mind has other behavioral motives that contradict its motives - this is where the resonance arises. The brain defines them as negative, ugly, ugly, and you begin to feel antipathy for the interlocutor.
Family and further development
After the basis of your worldview - intonation, habits, manners - formed and acquired a clear outline, you began to critically evaluate other people from an aesthetic point of view, the stage of development of artistic and aesthetic taste begins. This is the same branch of development when we are sent to study at drawing schools, musical institutions, theater circles, etc. There the child gets acquainted with his aesthetic "idols". For example, a boy goes to learn to play the violin. The following idea is formed in his mind: "Classical music is wonderful. It is sweet, calm, deep, has a hidden meaning. Definitely - it is beautiful." In the future, he will pass any musical works through this prism, and even if he falls in love with other styles of performance, he will compare them with the classics.
Floating freely
When a person grows up, he has behind him a baggage of aesthetic "skills" that he received through parenting, and with it he begins to independently master the environment. That is, consciousness is already fully formed, and looking at this or that object, a person can evaluate it as beautiful or disgusting, of course,building on previously acquired knowledge. But everything does not end there, but, one might say, only begins: here we are talking about the development of aesthetic taste and its transformation. An adult person begins to expand his consciousness, more painstakingly evaluate the world around him. Again, back to our boy. So he became an adult violinist. But he understands that the world is not made up of classics alone, and if you hit only this style with your head, you can turn out to be boring and uninteresting for society. Playing the violin, he begins to master folk motifs, perhaps he begins to be interested in gypsy music. And now she has already become for him another corner of beauty, and everything connected with such sounds is beautiful for him.
Our culture and our society
Do not forget that aesthetic taste is also a merit of the society in which we were born and live. The oldest and most understandable explanation for this phenomenon was given by scientists who lived back in the 19th century. They told the world that in the view of wild African tribes, a beautiful woman should have a long neck, sagging breasts, a nose pierced in the center by a bone, and other "accessories" inherent in the tribe. It is clear that for a person with a European worldview, such beauty is unclear and is in great doubt. But all the men of that tribe are sure that she is the main beauty.
Now the world culture is becoming more synchronized. In all countries people love opera andpaintings of the Renaissance, everywhere the same offenses are considered sinful. Therefore, it became easier to communicate with people from different parts of the world - we began to understand each other. But what's even better is that each culture has its own, small, but significant differences. And for this reason, it is so interesting to study other ethnic groups, their aesthetic views and worldview.
