Taste and Disagreement

When two people disagree about a film, “it’s all a matter of taste” can feel like the end of the talk. Hume takes the saying seriously and presses it. If taste were only private feeling, no one could judge music better than anyone else, yet we think some critics see more in a work than others.

His answer is that good judges share certain features: delicacy to notice fine differences, practice from seeing and hearing much, comparison with other works, freedom from prejudice about who made it, and good sense. When such judges agree, their verdict is a fair guide. Disagreement remains, but it is not random.

So taste is not arbitrary, and not simply a fact either. You can say “I like it” and claim no more, or “it is good” and be ready to show what you notice. Know which claim you are making.

The argument after the film

Two friends leave a cinema. One says the film was brilliant. The other says it was dull, and adds that taste is personal, so there is nothing to discuss.

The first friend asks what the second noticed in the long quiet scenes. They talk about pacing, about what the camera lingers on, and about films they have each seen. By the end the second still prefers something faster, but can now name what the film was trying to do.

Try this today Next time you disagree about a film or song, say what you noticed in it, and ask what the other person noticed.