Page "Aesthetics" Paragraph 59

Viewer interpretations of beauty possess two concepts of value: aesthetics and taste.

Aesthetics is the philosophical notion of beauty.

Taste is a result of an education process and awareness of elite cultural values learned through exposure to mass culture.

Bourdieu examined how the elite in society define the aesthetic values like taste and how varying levels of exposure to these values can result in variations by class, cultural background, and education.

According to Kant, beauty is objective and universal ; thus certain things are beautiful to everyone.

The contemporary view of beauty is not based on innate qualities, but rather on cultural specifics and individual interpretations.