In fact the judgement of Taste always takes the form of a singular
judgement about an Object. The Understanding can form a universal
judgement by comparing the Object in point of the satisfaction it
affords with the judgement of others upon it: _e.g._ “all tulips are
beautiful.” But then this is not a judgement of taste but a logical
judgement, which takes the relation of an Object to taste as the
predicate of things of a certain species. That judgement, however, in
which I find an individual given tulip beautiful, _i.e._ in which
I find my satisfaction in it to be universally valid, is alone a
judgement of taste. Its peculiarity consists in the fact that, although
it has merely subjective validity, it claims the assent of _all_
subjects, exactly as it would do if it were an objective judgement
resting on grounds of knowledge, that could be established by a proof.
§ 34. _There is no objective principle of Taste possible_
By a principle of taste I mean a principle under the condition of
which we could subsume the concept of an object and thus infer by
means of a syllogism that the object is beautiful. But that is
absolutely impossible. For I must feel the pleasure immediately in the
representation of the object, and of that I can be persuaded by no
grounds of proof whatever. Although, as _Hume_ says,[68] all critics
can reason more plausibly than cooks, yet the same fate awaits them.
They cannot expect the determining ground of their judgement [to be
derived] from the force of the proofs, but only from the reflection
of the subject upon its own proper state (of pleasure or pain), all
precepts and rules being rejected.
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