I know everyone is busy but the author provides the definition explicitly: > And what I mean by taste here is simply the honed ability to distinguish mediocrit

I know everyone is busy but the author provides the definition explicitly: > And what I mean by taste here is simply the honed ability to distinguish mediocrity from excellence. This will be highly subjective, and not everyone’s taste will be the same, but that is the point, you should NOT have the same taste as someone else. Concisely, discernment. So your comment about “artistic quality” may apply. But from your ends sentence It seems you equate “artistic quality” to aesthetics , and I don’t think that’s what the author intended.