TASTE IN AND OUT OF THE TEXT: AESTHETIC AND LITERARY ASPECTS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the concept of aesthetic taste, which is an undeniable and significant factor in the formation of human culture. Given the versatility and complexity of its manifestation, the relationship between food, culture and society is considered. It is emphasized that food is a powerful sign of a person’s social status and ethnicity, and can tell a lot about their family relationships, gender, migration, assimilation or resistance to cultural phenomena. The historical aspects of the formation and functioning of taste are considered, the most significant and evolutionary ideas about taste in the context of philosophy and art are analysed. Attention is focused on the teachings of F. Hutcheson, O. Gerard, A. Allison, and I. Kant. The work of D. Hume “On the Norms of Taste” is singled out separately, which contains recommendations on how to abstract from the “pressure” of circumstances, environment, morality, religion, rationalism, scepticism, fashion and envy and to systematize artistic tastes. Parallels are drawn between taste and beauty, beauty and usefulness, the ugly and the beautiful. The main theses of T. Adorno’s “Theory of Aesthetics” and K. Rosenkrantz’s “Aesthetics of the Ugly” are analysed. It is found that the main criterion for analysing a work of art is not aesthetic taste, but its special modification – artistic taste. It is proved that human tastes are significantly changed by history, context and worldview. Thus, in the eighteenth century, taste and aesthetic theories were at the peak of popularity, later Nietzsche’s authority with his call for a reassessment of all values relegated the issue of taste to the margins, and postmodernism made taste a powerful lever of consumer manipulation and moved it into the field of neuromarketing. Nevertheless, as in the past, so now, taste remains an important culture-forming factor of humanity, a mirror of the era and an indicator of the individual level of comprehension of reality. It is concluded that aesthetic taste is a sensual and mental assessment of the world and art, dictated by the needs, interests and worldview of a person. It depends on a whole range of cultural values, spiritual guidelines, level of socialization and individual choice of the personality.