Good Taste

Taste can be objective. How can we define good taste?

To merely dismiss taste as subjective doesn't answer the original question. If it's so subjective, then we wouldn't need to discuss it–and yet we continue to describe things as tasteful or lacking in taste. We consciously or unconsciously use shared standards to recognize good taste. From art to music, we constantly agree on something being good, or at least acceptable to a particular group of people. This suggests taste is likely an objective and intersubjective experience.

Good taste is likely not innate; it's discovered through exploration and refinement. Much like the evolution of scientific understanding, our sense of taste develops over many iterations of discovery. We may have initial theories about good taste, similar to how Newtonian laws explained certain aspects of gravity. As our knowledge expand, we may uncover more nuanced explanations, akin to Einstein's theory of relativity. It became a more generally accepted explanation–a good explanation. Taste is discovered similarly and refined through the creative process by artists. It probably emerges through the continuous exploration of artistic expression.

Just as science helps us understand the physical world, taste helps us understand the human psyche. It's reflects what our mind and collective consciousness likes or dislikes. We generally find sweetness or sour flavours appealing. Sweetness existed in nature before we discovered it through trial and error. Similarly, the right combination of rhythms, strokes, shades, or words already exist–we just need to discover them to capture our collective human experience. Taste is a window into the unknown realms of the human mind.

While we're different as humans, we also share some fundamental similarities. Our shared sense of taste can reveal these traits, particularly as it manifests as art. It's why we define certain works as "good art" in the first place, and why we place value on them. This is also why we have universally beloved music, widely used products, or famously portrayed paintings–they resonate with a significant aspects, if not the majority, of the human psyche. The things that we deem as having good taste capture the essence of some universal aspects of the human experience.

The question of whether there is such a thing as "good taste" requires us to explore both our individual and collective minds. Developing good taste involves understanding and exploring our inner self, using a shared artistic language, and examining what resonates with a group of people. It's the depth of the resonance–not the breath–that ultimately defines good taste. When something deeply captures a significant portion of the collective human psyche, it becomes generally accepted as "good taste". Artists effectively explore and express this shared sensibility of the human mind through their inner craft and discovery.