The Theory of Moral Sentiments · Chapter
I: Of the Influence of Custom and Fashion Upon Our Notions of Beauty and Deformity explained
This chapter explores how custom and fashion shape our judgments of beauty and deformity, extending beyond dress and furniture to architecture, poetry, music, and even natural objects.
What happens
This chapter explores how custom and fashion shape our judgments of beauty and deformity, extending beyond dress and furniture to architecture, poetry, music, and even natural objects. Custom creates habitual associations that make certain combinations feel proper or improper, while fashion—a species of custom tied to high rank—lends grace to forms through association with the great. The chapter argues that these principles influence moral sentiments as well, accounting for varied opinions across ages and nations.
Themes in this chapter
Influence of Custom and Fashion on Morality
The chapter centrally argues that custom and fashion shape our notions of beauty and deformity, and by extension moral sentiments, leading to varied judgments across cultures and times.
Characters to notice
- Racine
Mentioned as an example of French tragic verse, which uses the same meter as burlesque in English, illustrating how custom associates different sentiments with the same poetic form.
- Voltaire
Cited alongside Racine, his 'Henriad' is noted for using heroic verse in French, demonstrating the influence of custom on poetic associations.
- Seneca
Accused by Quintilian of corrupting Roman taste by introducing a frivolous prettiness in place of majestic reason and masculine eloquence.
- Mr. Pope
Introduced a new manner in English long verse, characterized by nervous precision, which became the fashionable style after Dryden and Addison.
- Mr. Addison
His correct but often tedious and prosaic languor is noted as no longer being imitated, replaced by Pope's style.
Key passages
“When two objects have frequently been seen together, the imagination acquires a habit of passing easily from the one to the other.”
Repeated exposure to two objects together creates a mental habit, making us expect them to appear as a pair.
Explains the psychological mechanism behind custom's influence on perception.
“Fashion is different from custom, or rather is a particular species of it. That is not the fashion which everybody wears, but which those wear who are of a high rank, or character.”
Fashion is a subset of custom, defined by the adoption of styles by the elite rather than by the general population.
Distinguishes fashion from mere custom by its association with social hierarchy.
“The modes of dress and furniture are continually changing, and that fashion appearing ridiculous today which was admired five years ago, we are experimentally convinced that it owed its vogue chiefly or entirely to custom and fashion.”
The rapid turnover in dress and furniture fashions shows that their appeal is largely due to custom and fashion, not intrinsic beauty.
Uses ephemeral trends to illustrate the power of custom over aesthetic judgments.
“How many great qualities must that writer possess, who can thus render his very faults agreeable? After the praise of refining the taste of a nation, the highest eulogy, perhaps, which can be bestowed upon any author, is to say, that he corrupted it.”
An author who makes even his flaws appealing must be exceptionally talented; indeed, corrupting a nation's taste may be a greater compliment than refining it.
Highlights the paradoxical influence of eminent artists on fashion and taste.