An Introduction to Kant's Aesthetics: Core Concepts and Problems

Foreword by Henry E. Allison viii

Acknowledgments xi

About This Book xii

Note on the Translation xiv

Introduction 1

The Aesthetic Dimension Between Subject and Object 1

The Meaning of “Aesthetic” 4

Categories as a Guide 8

The “Moments” of a Judgment of Taste 13

1 Disinterestedness: First Moment 19

Disinterestedness as a Subjective Criterion 19

Three Kinds of Satisfaction: Agreeable, Beautiful, Good 23

2 Universality: Second Moment 27

The Argument from Self-Reflection: Private, Public, Universal 27

Subjective Universality 31

A Case of Transcendental Logic 35

Singular “but” Universal 39

How to Read Section 9 46

3 Purposiveness: Third Moment 54

Purpose without Will, Purposiveness without Purpose 54

Purposiveness and Form: Charm versus Euler 60

Of “Greatest Importance”: Beauty and Perfection 65

Beauty: Free, Dependent, and Ideal 69

4 Necessity: Fourth Moment 77

Exemplary Necessity 77

Kant’s Interpretation of the sensus communis 81

The Deduction 86

5 Fine Art, Nature, and Genius 94

Fine Art and Why It Must Seem like Nature 94

Genius and Taste 98

Genius and Aesthetic Ideas 101

6 Beyond Beauty 106

The Sublime 106

Beauty as the Symbol of Morality 113

The Analytic, the Dialectic, and the Supersensible 120

7 Two Challenges 128

Can Kant’s Aesthetics Account for the Ugly? 128

Can there be Beauty and Genius in Mathematics? 133

Summary and Overview 141

Before Kant 141

Kant’s Aesthetics 142

After Kant 146

Glossary 149

Bibliography 157

Index 171