Aaesthetic relativism is the belief that standards of artistic excellence are merely reflections of individual tastes and cultural influences. In other words, individual judgement is all that matters and all individual’s judgments are equal. While personal and cultural factors undeniably shape our artistic perceptions, genuine artistic merit goes beyond these boundaries. The pursuit of rigid definitions and classifications in the art world often proves futile, as the essence of art often defies neat categorisation -art, like life is messy. It is the *experience* of art, not its rigid definition, that truly matters. Similarly, the ongoing debates surrounding the precise meaning of "aesthetic" hold little relevance to me. What matters instead is recognising that individuals possess varying capacities for appreciating artistic value - otherwise *all art* is the same as *no art*. Lyotard and Derrida would likely find this relativistic approach to aesthetics unsurprising. They've long argued against the notion of universal truths, suggesting that our understanding of the world, including beauty, is shaped by language, power structures, and cultural contexts. In their view, there's no single, objective standard of aesthetics that transcends time and place. Instead, beauty is seen as a construct, something that is constantly being negotiated and redefined within specific social and historical contexts. This means that what we consider beautiful today may not have been considered so in the past,and vice versa. They would likely see the current state of aesthetics as further evidence of the fluidity and contingency of meaning. Postmodern thinkers, while acknowledging the relativity of aesthetics, might also find themselves grappling with certain philosophical dilemmas. Questions arise, like how can there be dangerous, corrupting, or immoral beauties in a world where beauty is subjective and context-dependent? The beauty of a powerful leader's rhetoric can be seductive and dangerous, leading to harmful consequences. Our aesthetic experiences can be influenced by harmful ideologies, prejudices, or desires. An image that glorifies violence or discrimination can be aesthetically appealing to some, even if it's morally reprehensible. Beauty can be used to manipulate and deceive. Advertisers, politicians, and artists can use aesthetics to shape our perceptions and influence our behavior. These examples, though not necessarily unanswerable within a postmodern framework, highlight the complexities that emerge when beauty is placed on the same metaphysical level as truth, as something inherent to the very nature of being. The natural response, and perhaps a more postmodern one, is to suggest that beauty resides in appearances, not in the essence of things. Consider the child who finds delight in simple shapes but of course struggles to grasp the complexities of a the architecture of the Sagrada Família basilica. Who likes the paw-patrol theme but would like Mahler ‘turned off please’. These examples illustrate the hierarchical nature of aesthetic appreciation. While personal experiences and cultural backgrounds shape our artistic sensibilities, they do not render all judgments equally valid. At the extremes of artistic quality, the distinction between good and bad art usually becomes crystal clear. A masterpiece serves as a powerful illustration of enduring artistic principles, while a truly substandard work reveals a profound lack of skill or understanding. In these cases, aesthetic judgments carry a high degree of certainty. However, the vast majority of artistic creations sit in the middle ground, where aesthetic judgments are open to interpretation and debate. Now, personal tastes and cultural biases inevitably come into play. But I still think that the relativist's assertion that aesthetic judgments are purely subjective and culturally determined ultimately crumbles under scrutiny. While individual and cultural differences undoubtedly influence our artistic perceptions, they do not negate the existence of objective aesthetic standards.  Whilst some proponents of objective beauty argue that certain aesthetic experiences evoke similar responses across cultures and historical periods - Universal Human Experiences and other cite evolutionary explanations. I myself can’t help but be drawn to a [[platonic ideal of aesthetics]].