The Role of Taste

What is the role of taste in creative ability? Can good taste be taught? Is taste a discipline or an instinct, or maybe a bit of both?

Disciplined instinct?

I tend to hate the term “potential” in this context because it denotes a certain religiously fatalistic aspect to the whole thing (and as the imminent father of three I don’t like to think that these things are set in stone too early on) but the thing that comforts me about this particular aspect of creativity is that it’s so fluid. Taste can be refined, and therefore potential ability (I define ability in this case as the, um, ability to elegantly solve problems in an exciting way. Worst definition ever) can be exponentially increased through study and conversation. Obviously there’s a limit to the distance this singular aspect of the creative process can take you (you have to do something eventually) but I think it is an important part. I don’t think that ability can outpace taste, even if you have ambition in spades.

It occurs to me that this is probably why we have “school.”

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