Forgive me, please; I’m still catching up from last week’s readings.
I think I’m finally understanding a little more of Blair’s ideas about taste. I thought, “Wow, this man is persistent about taste. What makes him think he can talk about something so open to interpretation?” His insistence on taste as a part of a cultured life made me a little uneasy at first because I could see the exclusion that would result more than I could see the benefits: “You don’t have the money or leisure for these classes or texts or lessons, so you don’t get to acquire taste.” And, oh wait, who gets to say what exactly taste is?
But after rereading the intro to Blair’s section, I understood his emphasis a little better. No one’s writing occurs in a vacuum; as much as we may wish otherwise, we are all to some extent products of our (social) environment. Blair writes at a time when faith in the ability of humans to better themselves—socially, psychologically, economically, intellectually—is high. Obviously, Blair focuses on taste in the individual, but its value is in its benefit to the society. The editors’ intro points out that “the cultivation of taste leads one to the higher intellectual pleasures, including the pleasure of virtuous behavior” (947). Blair says that appreciation of beauty occurs naturally within humans, and he believes that human reason allows people gain taste (955). I see this as implying that he must see purpose in education and human beings as able to be educated.
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Wouldn't that mean that a given society would have to have some unified concept of progress? What happens when standards of taste conflict? Doesn't that just lead to cultural relativism?
One point you mentioned really hits home for me, personally (a very anti-post-structuralist thing to say, I know...oh, did it again)--that is, no one's writing occurs in a vacuum. In terms of taste, value, and ultimately aesthetics, the contemporary cultural emphasis placed on individual artistic creativity erodes the discipline of the craft (whatever craft that may be) because there's this idea that original art is created in a vacuum.
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