Free Your Mind: The Role of Disinterested Expertise in Hume and Kant Page 4

Just as the qualities of expertise are in question, so is how we will find this disinterested expert, or even if one exists. Hume says, "Though men of delicate taste be rare, they are easily to be distinguished in society" (243). Indeed, we can agree with Hume that "such a character is valuable and estimable will be agreed by all mankind", but where is the evidence that such a man exists? Hume proves well that if such a man exists, we will find him, but more importantly he does not fully prove that the existence of a disinterested expert is a certainty. Kant takes a different approach in how we would find this judge. Kant believes that the critic will be able to find himself, saying, "He must believe that he is justified in requiring a similar liking from everyone because he cannot discover, underlying this liking, any private conditions" (54). Kant seems to have more faith that a person could judge his own expertise and disinterestedness. The problem, however, remains; could it be possible that as Kant says, "someone likes something and is conscious that he himself does so without any interest" (54). Kant is never able to fully explain this paradox and ends up stating the importance of disinterested expertise rather than showing how and where it truly exists.

Hume and Kant are both able to reasonably conclude that only one with disinterested expertise could make such a claim as a standard of taste and beauty. Unfortunately, both, through different routes, fail to prove the possibility of such a critic beyond speculation. Both Hume and Kant try to explain who this critic would be and where he would be found, but are never able to firmly establish the possibility. Despite their well-reasoned efforts, without establishing the undoubted existence of disinterested expertise, Hume and Kant have not fully established a standard of taste and beauty.


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