Relationship Between The Sublime And The Beautiful Philosophy Essay

Relationship amongst The Sublime And The Beautiful Philosophy Es hypothecateAlexander Gottlieb Baumg craften is a precise signifi abidet figure in the philosophy of esthetics, as he invented the joint aesthetical as we know it in the modern day. Baumgarten defined aesthetics thus creating a science of taste. Initially, in his first critique, the Critique of pure(a) Reason (1781), Kant rejected Baumgartens account that aesthetic sound judgment is a haoma of taste.However, in the Critique of sound nous (1790), it is unmistakable that Kant changed his mind, as it underside be seen in his ternary critique that he indeed was influenced by Baumgarten, as he rates that aesthetic savvy is a belief of taste.This probe result begin by looking into a general account of Kants flock on aesthetics, which depart attract to examining his third gear critique the Critique of Judgement looking at the first intelligence Analytic of the Beautiful, of the first segmentation Anal ytic of esthetic Judgement, of Part I Critique of aesthetic Judgement. This result hence lead to what Kant describes as the four meanings of aesthetic judgement dis arouseedness, oecumenicality, goal-directedness and necessity. The essay will then discuss Kants nonion of the distill, looking at the chief(prenominal) difference between beauty and the sublime and the types of sublime. This will then lead to the relationship between the sublime and the bonnie harmonize to Kant and then will conclude by examining some criticisms of Kants aesthetic judgement.For Kant, t here be 2 forms of the aesthetic the sightly and the sublime. Although, Kants Critique of Judgement (CoJ) is the main source of his positioning on aesthetics, he also published a nonher work on the topic in 1764 Observations on Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime, however, this is considered to be more than invadeed in psychology rather than aesthetics (Kelly, 1998 27). Douglas Burnham states in hi s book An Introduction to Kants The aesthetic judgement is the focal point in Kants third critique. It drive out be found that he began looking at judgement in theAesthetic judgements argon essentially judgements of taste according to Kant. The judgement of taste is aesthetic (Kant, 1790 in Cahn and Meskin, 2008 131). When he says judgements of taste, he does not sozzled taste in wiz of eating, but taste in the instinct of whether someone has good or bad taste in something. in that location ar four founts of taste, which be as follows quality, quantity, relation of the take and mirth of the physical object. These four aspects through which Kant expresses his aesthetic judgments be kn give birth as his quartette Moments, which argon most commonly known as1. Disinterest 2. catholicity 3. Purposiveness 4. Necessity.Kant describes aesthetic judgements firstly as free-hearted, tell that it only disinterested cheer that stool ground aesthetic judgements. There are three types of expiation in disinterest the agreeable, the elegant and the good. The agreeable is subjective and so not universal the beautiful is subjective yet de gentlemans gentlemands that others agree and the good is objective but is based on concepts. Kant argues that it is only in the beautiful that we can be free and disinterested (Wenzel, 2005 142). Kant begins his account of disinterestedness by defining what interest is ). There are twain types of interest one is by lead (in the agreeable) and the other by concepts (in the good). Sensation has got to do with the followence of a thing. When something exists we can feel it this is a common opinion for everyone as we all say if we can feel ourselves pinching ourselves then we are not dreaming it is rattling (Burnham, 2000 51).Burnham (ibid 52) goes on to say that . This is indeed a Kantian claim, as Kants notion of disinterest is that of dismissing any interest when sound judgment a thing beautiful. Aesthetic judgem ents are free from such interests. To be disinterested when judging art, way of life that interest is and as mentioned before, free from interest. Pure aesthetic judgements are indifferent with the real existence of the object (Crowther, 2007 68). Disinterest is at its most raw material definition, an attempt to judge something beautiful, however remaining impartial opus doing so. Kant dialogue about frolic throughout his account of the beautiful, and to judge something aesthetically, a somebody is gaining a pleasure in something that they are disinterested in. Something must exist for it to be judged aesthetically, however, the judgement itself is a mental cognize. As Burnham (2000 52) says, it is the thing itself that is be judged, through the experiencing of it. This again is reminiscent of Kants notion of the thing in itself in his transcendental philosophy.(Kant, 1790 in Cahn and Meskin, 2008 134). The second of Kants Four Moments is that of universality. Kant claims t hat in beingness disinterested about pleasure if the beautiful object, one can claim universal validity to judgement. As can be seen from the quote above, Kant says that a judgement is universal apart from concepts (ibid). Universality is not based on any concepts. If the judgement has concepts then it is suggesting that beauty is the post of the object (which it often is uttered as) that is being judged and this is not the case. Kant argues that subjective judgements are not universal, for workout, if I utter that the taste of cocoa pleases me and somebody else said that they did not like chocolate, then some(prenominal)(prenominal) of these are individual responses and both are correct. I do not expect everybody to like chocolate neither does the other person think that everyone will not like chocolate just because they do not like it. Thus, subjective judgements are not universal. Objective judgements are universal, however. Taking chocolate as an example once more, if o ne was to say that chocolate was sweet in relation to it containing a lot of pelf and another person said it is not, then it is evident that they are not aware of what the other meant as it is a universal fact that chocolate is sweet (again in relation to it being full of sugar) (Burnham, 2000 46-47). Therefore, aesthetic judgements are like objective judgments in the fact that they are both universal. However, being sweet is a property of chocolate and beauty according to Kant, is not a property of any object. Kant overcomes this obstacle of beauty becoming a property of the object by using as if. Kant acknowledges that each individual has their own taste , however, he states that and as mentioned earlier, judging the beautiful is a different story. Following on from saying that each person has their own taste, he says thatThis is a notion he repeats throughout defining and explaining universality (in ibid 134-135) and it is how he surmounts the idea of beauty being a property o f an object he says it is as if it is a property of an object, not true(a)ly the property of the object So to sum up universality, when someone is judging something to be beautiful, they expect that when reservation this judgement, that when it is judged by others, they are expected to judge it beautiful also and gain pleasure in it (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2005).Kants third moment is that of purposiveness (or finality or end, as Kant uses in his CoJ). Kant defines this moment There are three types of purpose external, definite and internal. External purpose is if the purpose does what it is hypothetical to do. Definite purpose is what the purpose is meant to do and internal purpose is what the purpose is meant to be like. In this moment, Kant is trying to portray that things are judged to be beautiful if they are perceived to assume a purpose, but not a particular purpose otherwise, the beautiful is something that is purposivenss without purpose. Kant is keeping with the no concept (from universality) here as the purpose of an object is the concept to which it was manufactured (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2005). An example of this third moment would be that of temper. Beauty in nature appears to be purposive, however it is of no use to us and it is for this reason that the beauty of nature is pleasurable to us (ibid).The fourth and final of Kants Four Moments, is that of necessity. The following is how Kant describes the immenseness of necessity in his CoJSatisfaction of encountering a beautiful object is what Kant calls a necessary pleasure and hence (universality coming into play again here) a pleasure of all perceivers of it. Aesthetic judgements must be necessary according to Kant. Along with necessity comes common sense, however, Kant does not mean common sense in the normal everyday meaning of the phrase, he means the actual senses that we all have (Burnham, 2000 55) taste, touch, hearing, sight and smell. Hence, the sense of pleasure that one gets from judging something beautiful is that common sense. Necessity is again linked to universality in that the as if concept comes into play again in his fourth moment. As if in necessity is linked to that of the condition of necessity. The condition of necessity is what it is saying about the people who are judging an object beautiful. As Burnham (2000 57) states,For Kant, the beautiful is not the only form of the aesthetic the other is the sublime. The Concise Oxford lexicon (year 1214), It is this awe that differentiates the beautiful from the sublime. The sublime is something that is beyond beauty. Kant defines the sublime as . Kant divides the sublime into two types the mathematical and the high-energy (ibid)). The mathematical is concerned with when we encounter colossal, extensive, braggart(a) objects size is the key component here we cannot get our heads around something that is so monumentally extensive. Because of its size, we cannot grasp it sensibly and so it brings about a terror at heart us. We cannot take it all in at once so it becomes likewise overwhelming (Burnham, 2000 91). It contains feelings of exhilaration and being overwhelmed. Take the example of a ruby storm if I am frightened by the storm, this inevitably leads to an interest in saving myself. Once I have expressed an interest, then I cannot encounter the sublime as the sublime, like the beautiful, involves disinterestedness. It is so massive in size that we cannot comprehend it as it almost becomes so vast that our imagination runs away with itself (McCloskey, 1987 98). The dynamical sublime relates to power. It concerns our be of the mighty, the almighty, dangerous objects or phenomena which we regard from a position of synthetic rubber. Take again the example of a vehement storm a natural disaster. When we see something like this violent storm we know that it can crush and overpower us, however, we as reasonable beings can summon up enou gh deterrent example courage to spurn the terror and fear that the storm gave rise to. Summoning up this moral courage is something that only a rational being can do. Because we are experiencing the storm from a safe outmatch, we know that we are safe so that interest of saving ourselves does not exist and thus we can experience the sublime.For Kant, the sublime is essentially something we experience (influence of Heidegger here). The Wanderer above the Sea of overcast by Caspar David Friedrich, is probably the best painting that represents Kants idea of the sublime. As can be seen below, Friedrich used nature to portray the sublime. The painting illustrates a man standing alone, looking out onto vast scenery of thick defile covering a mountain range, observing it from a position of safety suggests that this image is that of the dynamical sublime.Kant begins his Analytic of the Sublime (Book II of The Critique of Aesthetic Judgement) with the similarities between the beautiful and the sublime. What can be seen first is evident both are aesthetic judgements. both(prenominal) involve disinterested pleasure that is when making an aesthetic judgement, the person judging must remain impartial while judging the object beautiful the sublime in the case of dynamical sublime, taking the example of the storm again, when experiencing the storm from a safe distance where the person knows no harm can be done to themselves, they can view the sheer effect that the storm is having and thus experience the sublime. Both the beautiful and the sublime also have a universal aspect to them the force of the storm and looking at its impact from afar, should indeed have the same effect on everyone. However, it can be established that the third moment purposiveness is not in common to the two types of the aesthetic. As Burnham (2000 90) mentions, Kant describes pleasure in the introduction to the CoJ, as However, the sublime does not allow an exertion of an end.Kants aesthe tics has been criticised by many a philosopher since. Gadamer (who was highly influenced by Heidegger) criticised that Kants aesthetics was ultimately subjectivist. Gadamer stresses that Kants aesthetics is not linked to a proper knowledge. Gadamer says that Kant limits his aesthetic judgement to mere experience of the pleasurable. He says that by limiting our experience through the four moments, it does not challenge us enough in making the judgements1. Many critics have also tried to criticise Kant on what disinterested pleasure actually is. It has also been criticised that Kants notion of the aesthetic judgement say nothing about art as a develop concept.This essay has examined Kants four moments of aesthetic judgement of the beautiful, looking at aesthetic judgements as being make by a person who must remain impartial and not interested in the object of judgement seeing all aesthetic judgements as universal, that is that if an aesthetic judgement is made then everyone will agre e. Each aesthetic judgement is made with purposive but without an end in sight and all aesthetic judgements are necessary. It has then gone on to discuss the sublime, looking at the two types of sublime the mathematical and the dynamical the mathematical concerning that which is so extensive in size, it overcomes us and the dynamical being that we are observing something very powerful from a position of safety and so are able to experience the sublime. The essay then looks into the relationship that the sublime and the beautiful have by looking at the similarities and differences that are in each similarities being that they are both forms of the aesthetic, they are both reflective judgements, they both involve disinterestedness and are both universal. This essay has concluded by looking at a few criticisms of Kants aesthetics looking at Gadamer (and Heidegger) who thought that Kants view on the aesthetic was too subjectivist and has also looked at how Kants aesthetics shows nothin g of how art in the aesthetic judgement as a developing concept. It is evident that Kant indeed influenced many aesthetic philosophers after him as his aesthetic guess can be seen in many a philosopher of art since then, both of influence and criticism.