Of The Delicacy Of Taste And Passion by David Hume

 

Here is an essay for anyone who wishes to cultivate a refined aesthetic sensibility or reflect on character and human nature. Of The Delicacy Of Taste And Passion by David Hume (1711-1776) is much shorter and not nearly as well known or influential as his Of The Standard of Taste but contains keen psychological insight and a fair share of wisdom nuggets. Below are my comments coupled with several quotes from Hume's elegantly written essay. Available on-line: http://www.econlib.org/library/LFBook...

"Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal: And when a person, that has this sensibility of temper, meets with any misfortune, his sorrow or resentment takes entire possession of him, and deprives him of all relish in the common occurrence of life: the right enjoyment of which forms the chief part of our happiness."

For Hume, "delicacy of passion" refers to someone easily excitable and prone to anger; today, we use the term "hothead." And, for Hume, such anger deprives one of life's simple pleasures. I would use stronger language: anger places us in our own personal hell-realm. Hume acknowledges this delicacy of passion can afford a number of emotional highs; however, the lows are more frequent and can be quite destructive.

"There is a delicacy of taste observable in some men, which very much resembles this delicacy of passion, and produces the same sensibility of beauty and deformity of every kind, as that does to prosperity and adversity, obligations and injuries. . . . A polite and judicious conversation afford him the highest entertainment; rudeness or impertinence is as great a punishment to him, in short, delicacy of taste has the same effect as delicacy of passion: It enlarges the sphere both of our happiness and misery, and makes us sensible to pains as well as pleasures, which escape the rest of mankind."

The one aspect of this quote I particularly enjoy is how developing our delicacy of taste, that is, our aesthetic sensibility, broadens our horizons, enlarges and deepens our encounters with the world and empowers us to see more beauty. But, as Hume notes, there is a downside: with our increased sensitivity we will be hit more forcefully when we brush against the coarse, tawdry and rude.

"Delicacy of taste is as much to be desired and cultivated, as delicacy of passion is to be lamented, and to be remedied if possible. The good or ill accidents of life are very little at our disposal; but we are pretty much masters of what books we shall read, and what diversions we shall partake of, and what company we shall keep."

Very true. We are all tossed about by the winds of fortune, all those worldly happenings, things like the downturns of the stock market, our gadgets not working and rude people we encounter in the workplace or in public spaces, but when it comes to exercising our individual tastes in books, art, music, film, friends, recreation - the fresh air of freedom.



"Whatever connection there may be originally between these two species of delicacy, I am persuaded that nothing is so proper to cure us of this delicacy of passion as the cultivating of that higher and more refined taste, which enables us to judge of the characters of men, of compositions of genius, and the productions of the nobler arts."

Of course, this is the 18th century, the age of reason, prior to our understanding of the human unconscious and Freudian, Jungian and other forms of psychotherapy. But, I still think there is an element of truth here: if we develop our philosophic and aesthetic capacities, we take a step in the right direction in improving our lives and freeing ourselves from the delicacy of passion. Again, sorry to say, this isn't an absolute. As to the historical facts, one need only look at those Nazi leaders and SS officers who listened to Bach and Beethoven in the evening and committed atrocities against humanity the next morning.

"But perhaps I have gone too far in saying that a cultivated taste for the polite arts extinguishes the passions and renders us indifferent to those objects which are so fondly pursued by the rest of mankind. On farther reflection, I find that it rather improves our sensibilities for all the tender and agreeable passions, at the same time that it renders the mind incapable of the rougher and more boisterous emotions."

Ha! David Hume senses there is more to human nature in the areas he is describing, after all. He likewise sees cultivating taste doesn't necessarily provide the complete solution for someone swinging up and down on an emotional yo-yo, bound to the delicacy of passion, but it helps!

"Nothing is so improving to the temper as the study of the beauties, either of poetry, eloquence, music or painting. They give a certain elegance of sentiment to which the rest of mankind are strangers. The emotions which they excite are soft and tender. They draw off the mind from the hurry of business and interest; cherish reflection; dispose to tranquility; and produce an agreeable melancholy, which, of all dispositions of the mind, is the best suited to love and friendship."

So there you have it, straight from David Hume: if you would like to improve your love life and develop more meaningful relations with your friends, a good first step would be to cultivate your delicacy of taste.