We often agree upon good and bad artistic qualities in the general sense but we surrender to subjective taste when we discuss the particulars. Similarly, "virtue" and "vice" are good and bad, but when we focus on a moral example, we rely on subjectivity. Although beauty is subjective, we can establish a standard of taste to accept or reject notions of taste.

If taste is based solely on sentiment, then it must be subjective since we can not deny what we truly feel and as a result, there would be no standard of taste. All judgements would be wrong because it considers things beyond themselves. As a result there would be no standard to distinguish between two very different objects. A painting of mine would have the same aesthetic value as that of Picasso even though I have failed my art classes. According to Hume, the above argument is invalid since one object is clearly more tasteful than the other. As a result, there should be a standard of taste to find the right and wrong opinion. In this case, the ideal critic would deem Picasso's artwork more tasteful and people who think otherwise would be considered 'absurd'. The point here is that there is a conflict between two views. There is no basis for determining who's subjective feeling is right, yet we also see some artists as better than others, like Picasso being a better artist than me. To solve this, we need a rule; a standard of taste, to determine which feeling is appropriate.

To find rules of composition for taste, we need to study the works that have survived a long time that pleases everybody. These artwork have durable admiration meaning that the admiration for this work has deepened over the test of time. This durable admiration provides the work its sentiment and establishes the universality of beauty. The artwork itself does not portray the beauty and deformity but it is properties within this artwork that portrays the beauty and deformity. The certain properties will please the common human structure of mind and those unable to grasp the beauty have some defects that prevent them. Over time, a universal notion of beauty has developed here.

The best people to make the judgements are called the ideal critic. They have a delicacy of taste to identify small detailed parts of work with precision and they reveal the beauty. These people are free from prejudices, and they are able to make comparisons of artwork to better understand it. They are qualified to judge only after practising discerning the different types of beauty. They also have a goodsense for judging an artwork's unity, structure, purpose and identifying prejudice. The standard of taste is never perfect and sometimes will fail due to different cultures, religions, characteristics. In such cases, the works are only different, not considered better or worse.