Why is it that we cannot legitimately make certain aesthetic assertions–for instance that
'Guernica is harrowing'or that 'The Rite of Spring is strangely beautiful'–on the basis of
testimony alone? In this paper I consider a species of argument intended to demonstrate that
the best explanation for the impermissibility of such assertions is that a particular view of the
norms of aesthetic belief–pessimism concerning aesthetic testimony–is correct. I begin by
outlining the strongest instance of such 'arguments from assertion'and demonstrating that it …