Following on the trend of indeciveness that I have begun this blog with, I add beauty to my list of subjects on which I remain undecided.  I have a strong inclination that beauty in music is highly subjective, and perception of beauty is often due to subjective personal factors, such as one’s previous exposure to music.

Given that, although I am inclined to oppose the view, I can’t seem to find any good reasons for disagreeing with Balthasar’s thesis that it is not beauty that is subjective, but human perception.  Thus, there is objective beauty, and it is our perception of this beauty that is not perfect or objective.  Although I can’t find (yet) a good argument to refute this Kantian stance, I am still not convinced by it, and remain inclined to the view that musical aesthetics is subjective.