A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

ON THE THEORY OF TASTE OF REV. ARCHIBALD ALISON

A Research Paper
Presented to the
Department of Philosophy
Immaculate Conception Major Seminary
Tabe, Guiguinto, Bulacan

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the requirement for the subject
AESTHETHICS

By:

James Angelo L. Mozar

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I. Introduction

On the 18th and 19th century wherein Scotland the industrial propagation surges, the

intellectual thirsts of man never cease on the search of what is real and principle of the world or

nature, though the state of the society was placed on rather than its metaphysical view just as their

precursors did. Many political and social discussions were made. It was at the year 1789 that

France started their bloody revolution in order to shape their society and it affected Europe at large.

Political agendas were spoke of or even written in papers, people listened and they gathered and

formed meetings, but some on the other hand, their agendas were shared through the form of arts

more specifically theatrical plays, painting or even music. Many artists came from different

schools fining and disciplining themselves to please many people, be successful and be renowned,

as they presented their own master piece they also wished to be heard. Academic schools were

strict in imposing what would be a work of art. Before the revolution, many artists back then used

their hands for the sake of the king and the aristocrats but later on were forced to choose whether

for the King or the country. The dominance of Neoclassism and Romanticism also arise as a

conflict of art form and it became a dispute between emotion and reason.

Rev. Archibald Alison who is an Anglican minister was born in Scotland on the year 1757. A

man who is known for his sermons, written on his Life of Lord Woodhouselee and was revered by

many people. He is also known as an essayist and became known for his ‘Essay on the Nature and

Principle of Taste’. His wife Dorothea Gregory the youngest daughter of Dr. John Gregory,

grandson of James Gregory who is a renowned mathematician and rival of Sir Isaac Newton, and

the cousin of Thomas Reid, the founder of Scottish school of common sense, and the father of the

Philosophy of Mind, to whom Alison’s “Essays on Nature and Principle of Taste” inspired. He
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studied at Glasgow College where he met Adam Smith the father of modern economics. After

Glasgow he became a scholar to Baliol College where he made companion with Sir William Jones,

a philologist, and Dr. Matthew Baillie a renowned physician in London. Later on he studied for

orders in the Church of England and that led to his introduction to the Gregory.

With regard on his Essay on the Nature and Principle of Taste he busied himself on this subject

as he was amazed on the works of nature. Taste meant an intellectual judgment towards an object

that is aesthetically pleasing. Plato and Aristotle talked about the human soul and the role of senses

as akin to taste. But only in the 18th century where taste was totally mentioned and talked about.

“Throughout the eighteenth century, essays on taste are concerned to identify those qualities that

will distinguish the cultivated appreciator of poetry and painting from less-cultured dilettantes and

the vulgar who have no taste”1. David Hume classified taste whereas an object does not possess

itself beauty but rather it is in the mind. It is the mind that inquires the beauty, Hume saw the

problem that it “is too obvious not to have fallen under every one's observation.”2, and so he seek

for an ultimate customary for taste making distinction between the people who has taste and those

who has not. But most probably Thomas Reid introduced to Alison the theory of taste, having been

known clearly, it is a common sense that Taste is a form of perception based on the excellence of

the object. It led Alison to study his work nonstop in order to know what is in the object, its nature

that produce the emotion of taste and how do man receive it?

“…the migration of birds, the changes of seasons, the progress of vegetation, were the subject

of constant observation, and by keeping an accurate daily register, not only of the weather, but of

1
Dabney Townsend, Thomas Reid and the Theory of Taste (Georgia, Department of Philosophy Armstrong
Atlantic State University Savannah, 2003)
2
Hume, David. “Of the Standard of Taste.”
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the blooming of flowers and the changes of vegetation, he maintained a constant interest by

comparing the progress of season with another.” Sir Archibald Alison, On his Autobiography

Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne was imitated by Alison, it was a compiled letter

and methodical approach and observation of White who is a known naturalist of England. His son,

sir Archibald, who became known as historian in the Europe mentioned this. “A devoted

worshipper of Nature, my father was firmly impressed with the conviction, so conspicuous in his

writings, that the best feeling of the heart be drawn from her influences, and the purest enjoyments

of life from her contemplation”3. It was on the 17th day of May 1839, after he lived a wonderful

life, he died peacefully.

II. Alison’s Essay on Nature and Principle of Taste

The effect of the different art of taste is similar as they were presented to the senses,

whether it is a landscape, painting, music, poetry. Taste is an ability to judge an object having an

aesthetic standard. According to Alison, only if when the mind pay attention to an object, the effect

appears and excites the emotion in the mind addressed by the imagination and described it as the

pleasure of imagination. “It is then, only, we feel the sublimity or beauty of their productions,

when our imaginations are kindled by their power, when we lose ourselves amid the number of

images that pass before our minds, and when we waken at last from this play of fancy, as from the

charm of a romantic dream”4. Take this for an example, imagine there is a moon, shining bright

amidst the gloomy night, having its full circular appearance, and you took notice of it and you even

took pictures of it, and finally you say it is beautiful. The next night, the moon is still there, the

3
Alison, Archibald BART., Some account of my life and writings: an auto biography (Toronto, Edinburgh: W.
Blackwood, 1883) pg. 11
4
Alison, Archibald, Essays on the nature and principle of taste (Edinburgh, Printed by G. Ramsay, 1815) pg. 3
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same brightness and appearance, but you did not look at it just like the last night. Thus, when an

object was presented, the mind excites a temporarily attention and it is through imagination that it

was made realized. On the other hand, regular things that is perceive by the senses fail or

insufficiently excites the mind. But this does not mean that beauty passes only the mind nor even

only new things presented were called beautiful. The emotion that was exerted by the imagination

can also be recalled just by relaxing and putting attention and be in touch again to the natural

stream of thought. On this, Alison makes introduction to the psychology of association. Alison

argued that genuine aesthetic (“the emotion of taste”) just is the experience of a special sort of

“train” of emotional associations with an object”5.

Associationism is a complex mental process made through connection of ideas. These

associated emotions were gathered over years of experience and furthermore converted into

beauty. For example, remember what happen to Bagumbayan, because of history, this place what

made beautiful because of the heroic scene of the country. There is a great event happen there that

was embedded through every Filipinos mind though it is not experience today and unperceivable.

It is a mystery that it is possible that the mind unites themselves, the place, and the story behind

and form a whole beautiful experience. The influence of such associations is capable of increasing

beauty. Overall, as discussed above, an object containing good quality, when had been sensed. It

produces an effect upon the imagination and makes the emotion of taste. It is also mentioned that

it can be recalled through a process called associationism and not just recalling experienced data

but rather element that an object has when presented. On the second part Alison noticed that, “It

is further observable, that our sense of Beauty or Sublimity of every object depends upon

Jauss, Steven A. “Associationism and Taste Theory in Archibald Alison’s Essays.” The Journal of Aesthetics
5

and Art Criticism 64, no. 4 (2006)

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that quality, or those qualities of it which we consider ; and that objects of the most

acknowledged beauty cease to affect us with such emotions, when we make any of their

indifferent or uninteresting qualities the object of our consideration”6. Alison put a distinction

between the emotion of taste and simple emotions. Simple emotions were put simply as such

emotions that frequently felt without any sentiment of beauty. The emotion of taste can easily be

point out but hard to define its nature. To point it out, one has to distinguished an interesting and

good quality of an object. The role of experience is very crucial in here, since the key in pointing

out the emotion of beauty is to have a knowledge of it. Alison put it this way, “1 apprehend, that

these very natural and very common judgments could not be formed, unless we found from

experience, that those qualities only are felt as beautiful or sublime, which are found to

produce emotion”7.

III. Critical Analysis

Aesthetic experience is not in the object but rather a judgment of the mind. This was what

Alison taught on his essay, the theory of association completely influenced him and of course the

whole of British Aesthetics. The problem with the association and the emotion of taste is that it

materially dwells more leading do relativistic idea of what is beauty. The perceiver dictates what

is beauty for the self. It seems like Alison fail to recognize the word transcendence. Though

observing the era of this thinker, they turn in a revolt reconsidering an enlightenment that

eradicates outside authority in order to know. But, the idea of transcendence is very far more

important since it binds ideas, and its end is quite determined unlike with relativism. Alison did

6
Alison, Archibald, Essays on the nature and principle of taste, pg. 31
7
Ibid. Pg.117
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not come up, since his era focuses more on the uses of the senses and materially world being. They

almost even disregard Metaphysics. The problem also arises when one limits his thought to the

material. Given that it is through experience that man judge what is beauty according to Alison but

not all men have good senses. And of course not all men have the same psychological status and

of course, when one speaks of material thing, they are always subject to change. “Alison fails to

see that his aesthetic theory in fact points in the direction of relativism” 8. The prevalence of this

relativism led to the problem that man must assign again an authority in order to have an objective

type of judgment as a solution. Now, what is the role of transcendence in solving relativism seen

in Alison’s theory.

Transcendence overpass the material truths gathered by the mind, since truth cannot really be

contained since it is absolutely ultimate. One thing should be remembered when it comes to having

the concept of beauty, one cannot fully disregard the theory of taste but, it is also advisable not to

contain or stay on this process. Knowledge should transcend from the material, transcendence

binds these subjective ideas in order to put a one common truth and that is an objective one. This

also applies to any sciences, a person cannot deny the truth it gives since it is an obvious fact, yet

it is also a partial truth. The object of science is material object that happens to change over time.

That is why, though the facts conclude by the science should also be examine once more, to surpass

or rather transcend it to a more objective and unchangeable truth.

On search of what is really beauty, Alison’s theory of taste led to many people have different

tastes. The object presented to the mind exercise an emotion of pleasure that is the emotion of

taste, this is a fact indeed, since many of us men have different kind of thinking and different form

8
Jauss, Steven A. “Associationism and Taste Theory in Archibald Alison’s Essays.” The
Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
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of senses. But it is also a fact that man have the same species, that they are human. Beauty in the

object is dictated by the mind only if it pertains to a psychological sense of study, when it comes

on finding beauty as a truth, transcendence is necessary since it follows the logic that a truth does

not reside on material thing that usually change a lot through time and space, therefore one must

transcend higher than the material object.

IV. Conclusion

Alison’s object of study was to know the nature and principle of taste. Based on his experiences

and influence he gained affect his philosophy so much. He noted that the object when presented to

the mind and took attention of it there is an emotion that excites the mind, namely the emotion of

taste. This emotion of taste was also made distinct from other simple emotions since it has a certain

capacity in the mind since this emotion help the mind to attend to a thing, to be attracted. An object

in only satisfying because it is the mind that dictates, that is why there are different tastes a people

have when it comes to aesthetic. But this also led Alison to be inclined to relativism, which is a

problem that must be solved. This was a problem when a man only looks to the outer quality than

the real essence and nature of things. The problem within Alison ‘s theory is that he focused so

much on the material things, things that changes and so his claims are also leads to relativism. The

researcher proposes the idea of transcendence to input once more on study such as knowing what

is beauty. Since the problem of relativism comes from subjective ideas from each perceiver. The

idea given is that transcendence gather all subjective ideas in order to form one objective idea.

Since subjective ideas can be true or false, it cannot be disregarded since a part of it may be the

truth. Beauty is a truth perceive by the senses, but this does not mean that the mind dictates only

what is beautiful. It is also acknowledged that in the object itself had its own beauty at the moment
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its existence came to be. It happens to be that it is a truth that is already there not a truth that is

ruled by the mind.

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Bibliography

Primary

Rev. Archibald Alison. “Essays on the nature and principle of taste.” Oxford, Department of
history of Art, vol.1 (1815)

Secondary

Miller, Ralph N. “Thomas Cole and Alison’s Essays on Taste.” New York History 37, no. 3
(1956): 281–99. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23153873.

Townsend, Dabney. “Thomas Reid and the Theory of Taste.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art
Criticism (2003).

C.D. Waterston. “Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh1783 – 2002.” The Royal
Society of Edinburgh (2006).

Alison, Archibald BART. “Some account of my life and writings: an auto biography.” Edinburgh,
W. Blackwood (1883)

Willete, Jeanne. “The Artistic Revolution in France.” Modern, Modern Art, Modern Culture
(2009)

Steven A. Jauss. “Associationism and Taste Theory in Archibald Alison’s Essays.” The Journal
of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 64, no. 4 (2006): 415–28.

Young, James. (2009). “Relativism, Standards and Aesthetic Judgements.” International Journal
of Philosophical Studies. 17. 221-231. 10.1080/09672550902794439.