Kant’s Account of the Sublime as Critique

Kant Yearbook ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-120
Author(s):  
Rachel Zuckert
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Critique Of Judgment ◽  
Extensive Discussion ◽  
The Sublime ◽  
Cognitive Access ◽  
Artistic Representation ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
The Aesthetic

Abstract Kant’s account of the sublime in the Critique of Judgment has been extremely influential, prompting extensive discussion of the psychology, affect, moral significance, and relevance to artistic representation of the sublime on his provocative view. I focus instead on Kant’s account of the mathematical sublime in connection to his theoretical critical project, namely his attempt to characterize human cognitive powers and to limit human pretensions to knowledge of the supersensible. I argue, first, that his account of the psychology of the sublime is designed to explain not just its affective character (its displeasure-pleasure), but also to address challenges concerning the coherence of an experience of something as transcending one’s cognitive abilities. Thereby, I argue moreover, Kant provides an alternative, demystifying account of mystical experiences, in which humans might take themselves to intuit that which is beyond human understanding or reason, and thus to claim that they have special cognitive access to the supersensible, transcending the limits Kant claims to establish for human cognition. Kant’s account of the mathematical sublime is not merely so reductive of mystical experience, however; it also, I suggest, describes the aesthetic of Kantian critique itself.

Deconstruction as Critique of Ideology: Paul de Man’s Reading of The Critique of Judgment

1970 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Arribas
Keyword(s):  
Transcendental Philosophy ◽  
Critique Of Judgment ◽  
Paul De Man ◽  
Separate Spheres ◽  
The Sublime ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
De Man ◽  
Critique Of Ideology

ResumenEn este artículo se lleva a cabo una reconstrucción de la deconstrucción que realiza Paul de Man de la célebre distinción kantiana entre la filosofía transcendental y la metafísica, tal y como ésta es expuesta en la Crítica del Juicio. En lugar de considerar que pertenecen a dos esferas separadas, en el artículo se muestra cómo, según de Man, se da una transición entre ellas que sólo se puede explicar bajo la forma de un cortocircuito tropológico o lingüístico que Kant mismo realiza, pero de manera inconsciente. También se pone de relieve que la noción kantiana de lo sublime, escondida bajo la categoría de lo esct Ttético, cumple la función ideológica de reprimir la constitución inherentemente lingüística de todo conocimiento.Palabras clave Crítica, deconstrucción, estética, ideologÍaAbstractThis article carefully reconstructs Paul de Man’s deconstruction of Kant’s distinction between transcendental philosophy and metaphysics, as the latter appears in The Critique of Judgment. Instead of posing these two as belonging to two separate spheres, the paper shows how, according to de Man, there is a transition between them that can only be accounted for in terms of a tropological or linguistic trick that Kant himself realizes, yet unaware of it. The paper also discusses that Kant’s notion of the sublime has an ideological function disguised under the category of the aesthetic, and which amounts to a denial of the inherently linguistic constitution of all knowledge.Key wordsCritique, deconstruction, aesthetics, ideology

Introduction: Exiled from Oneself– Art and Other Strange Migrations …

Sublime Art ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Stephen Zepke
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Mode ◽  
Critique Of Judgment ◽  
Philosophical Concept ◽  
The Sublime ◽  
Material Reality ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Conditions Of Possibility ◽  
Is Development ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Antonio Negri

The sublime is a philosophical concept for an experience or sensation that exceeds its subjective conditions, and as such is unrepresentable. The introduction will sketch its development from Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) where it is distinguished from the beautiful and associated with terror, to Kant’s extension of it in his Critique of Judgment (1790). As Kant remains the source of all the contemporary versions of the sublime we will be concerned with, it will be important to have an understanding of his work. In particular, Kant’s affirmation of the autonomy of the aesthetic realm of sensation, and is development of the sublime as an experience that goes beyond its human conditions of possibility will be central to the book. The sublime experience itself can appear within a variety of different affects, but its dominant mode, beginning with Burke, is one of overwhelming terror and pain. Although this affect is important to its aesthetic trajectory, we shall understand the sublime in the somewhat altered sense in which Nietzsche claimed overcoming the human involved the pain of childbirth. In other words the experience of the sublime, and the emergence in Kant’s account of the transcendental realm of the Ideas that reconstitutes human subjectivity, will be rethought as a generative and aesthetic event that takes us beyond our bio-political conditions of possible experience, and expresses the vital force of the future as the transcendental dimension of our material reality. As Antonio Negri has put it, sublime art is the embodiment of an event in action, and as such ‘Art is simultaneously the creation and reproduction of the absolute singular’ (Art and Multitude (Polity press, 2011)).

Kants »Kritik der Urteilskraft« und die Philosophie der Aufklärung

2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-23
Author(s):  
Joachim Küpper
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Aesthetic Theory ◽  
Critique Of Judgment ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Sublime ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Aesthetic Ideas

Der Aufsatz diskutiert die Frage nach der Relation von Kants ästhetischer Theorie zur Philosophie der Aufklärung anhand zweier zentraler Komplexe der Kritik der Urteilskraft: Zur Analytik des Erhabenen wird vertreten, daß sich aus Kants Argumenten heraus die Auffassung entwickeln konnte, die Erfahrung des (spezifisch modernen) Kunstschönen sei ein Vehikel, den Menschen mit einem Bewußtsein seiner selbst als rationalem Wesen auszustatten. Zum Komplex der ›ästhetischen Ideen‹ wird argumentiert, daß sich bei Kant der Gedanke von der Erfahrung des Kunstschönen als einer Kompensation des Rationalitätsdrucks der im 18. Jahrhundert einsetzenden Moderne entwickelt. This paper seeks to examine the relation between Kant’s aesthetic theory and the philosophy of Enlightenment. My study will focus on two central aspects from the Critique of Judgment: In connection with the Analytic of the Sublime, I will argue that Kant’s discussion of the concept enabled the development of the opinion that experiencing the specifically modern artistic beauty works as a means to equip us with an awareness of ourselves as beings equipped with reason. The second aspect I want to discuss is that of the aesthetic ideas. I will show that in the Third Critique, the idea of experiencing artistic beauty functions as a compensation for the pressure of rationality that sets in together with modernity in the 18th century.

scholarly journals Porwanie do „trzeciego nieba”. Tomasz z Akwinu o doświadczeniu mistycznym

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 27-46
Author(s):  
Jan Sochoń
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Mystical Experience ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
God's Will ◽  
Divine Essence ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
The Core ◽  
The One ◽  
Human Intellect

The author of the present paper tackles the questions related to mystical experience in St. Thomas’ Aquinas writings. He demonstrates that according to the medieval thinker, assuming the belief of impossibility of experiencing vision of the divine essence in this life, mystical experience of Moses and St. Paul (raptus) should be considered as temporary and transient, that only happens once. Such experience transcendshuman natural powers since it is God who takes the initiative in rapture. It also remains passive in itself as it occupies only human intellect which is the one to see the divine essence, while the body remains in dormant state. What is more, this experience is limited because someone who experiences rupture is unable to communicate accurately what exactly had happened to him. Therefore, mystical experience in this life was not of primary importance for St. Thomas. He was more attracted by the direct visual perception of God promised in the Holy Scripture, its implication being that in the supernatural domain the eternal act of knowing God and communion with Him persists. During the visio the object of cognition is more active than its subject. By the infusion of divine light (lumen gloriae) human cognitive abilities are intensifi ed until raptus becomes able to see the divine essence. Naturally, the bestowed grace of seeing God and its intensity depends on experienced intensity of love (caritas) and desire of receiving such grace. It results from the above that saints do not have the same knowledge of God and do not reach the same level of happiness. The chosen can reach it in accordance with their merits and God’s will. However, in the state of salvation the nature of human cognition will not change, since the same human being strives for happiness on earth and reaches it in heaven, realising at the same time his non-self-suffi ciency in reaching this state. This problem lies at the core of Thomas’ inquiry into visio beatifi cans.

Schopenhauer and the Paradox of the Sublime

2020 ◽  
pp. 237-255
Author(s):  
Bart Vandenabeele
Keyword(s):  
Aesthetic Experience ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Aesthetic Object ◽  
Human Reason ◽  
The Sublime ◽  
The World ◽  
The Aesthetic

Schopenhauer explores the paradoxical nature of the aesthetic experience of the sublime in a richer way than his predecessors did by rightfully emphasizing the prominent role of the aesthetic object and the ultimately affirmative character of the pleasurable experience it offers. Unlike Kant, Schopenhauer’s doctrine of the sublime does not appeal to the superiority of human reason over nature but affirms the ultimately “superhuman” unity of the world, of which the human being is merely a puny fragment. The author focuses on Schopenhauer’s treatment of the experience of the sublime in nature and argues that Schopenhauer makes two distinct attempts to resolve the paradox of the sublime and that Schopenhauer’s second attempt, which has been neglected in the literature, establishes the sublime as a viable aesthetic concept with profound significance.

scholarly journals Extended parenting and the evolution of cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1803) ◽  
pp. 20190495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Uomini ◽  
Joanna Fairlie ◽  
Russell D. Gray ◽  
Michael Griesser
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cultural Learning

Traditional attempts to understand the evolution of human cognition compare humans with other primates. This research showed that relative brain size covaries with cognitive skills, while adaptations that buffer the developmental and energetic costs of large brains (e.g. allomaternal care), and ecological or social benefits of cognitive abilities, are critical for their evolution. To understand the drivers of cognitive adaptations, it is profitable to consider distant lineages with convergently evolved cognitions. Here, we examine the facilitators of cognitive evolution in corvid birds, where some species display cultural learning, with an emphasis on family life. We propose that extended parenting (protracted parent–offspring association) is pivotal in the evolution of cognition: it combines critical life-history, social and ecological conditions allowing for the development and maintenance of cognitive skillsets that confer fitness benefits to individuals. This novel hypothesis complements the extended childhood idea by considering the parents' role in juvenile development. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, we show that corvids have larger body sizes, longer development times, extended parenting and larger relative brain sizes than other passerines. Case studies from two corvid species with different ecologies and social systems highlight the critical role of life-history features on juveniles’ cognitive development: extended parenting provides a safe haven, access to tolerant role models, reliable learning opportunities and food, resulting in higher survival. The benefits of extended juvenile learning periods, over evolutionary time, lead to selection for expanded cognitive skillsets. Similarly, in our ancestors, cooperative breeding and increased group sizes facilitated learning and teaching. Our analyses highlight the critical role of life-history, ecological and social factors that underlie both extended parenting and expanded cognitive skillsets. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals’.

Hegel on the Nature of Scepticism

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 80-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietmar H. Heidemann
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Philosophical Method ◽  
Philosophical Thinking ◽  
Knock Down ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Early View ◽  
The One ◽  
Intrinsic Feature

In the Encyclopaedia Logic, Hegel states that ‘philosophy … contains the sceptical as a moment within itself — specifically as the dialectical moment’ (§81, Addition 2), and that ‘scepticism’ as ‘the dialectical moment itself is an essential one in the affirmative Science’ (§78). On the one hand, the connection between scepticism and dialectic is obvious. Hegel claims that scepticism is a problem that cannot be just removed from the philosophical agenda by knock-down anti-sceptical arguments. Scepticism intrinsically belongs to philosophical thinking; that is to say, it plays a constructive role in philosophical thinking. On the other hand, scepticism has to be construed as the view according to which we cannot know whether our beliefs are true, i.e., scepticism plays a destructive role in philosophy no matter what. It is particularly this role that clashes with Hegel's claim of having established a philosophical system of true cognition of the entirety of reality. In the following I argue that for Hegel the constructive and the destructive role of scepticism are reconcilable. I specifically argue that it is dialectic that makes both consistent since scepticism is a constitutive element of dialectic.In order to show in what sense scepticism is an intrinsic feature of dialectic I begin by sketching Hegel's early view of scepticism specifically with respect to logic and metaphysics. The young Hegel construes logic as a philosophical method of human cognition that inevitably results in ‘sceptical’ consequences in that it illustrates the finiteness of human understanding. By doing so, logic not only nullifies finite understanding but also introduces to metaphysics, i.e., the true philosophical science of the absolute.

scholarly journals A new account of rationality and semantics

2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-109
Author(s):  
Miljana Milojevic
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Human Cognition

The aim of this paper is to show how a new outlook on human cognitive abilities, and in accordance with this a different view of rationality, can influence semantics and one of the most prominent debates in this field, namely, conflict between Fregeans and non Fregean anti-indiviidualists. This new account of rationality will help us difuse some of the main motivators for Fregean view of semantics and it will help us in justifying non-Fregean anti-individualism but also in eliminating some of the apparent contradictions in Fregean anti-individualism of, e.g. Campbell and Evans. In this attempt of bringing together some of the latest insights into human cognition and semantics I will be dealing mainly with Jessica Brown's outlook on motivation for Fregean sense and Ruth Millikan's embedded view on rationality.

scholarly journals Los nuevos decorados del arte

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (17) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Carlos Fajardo Fajardo
Keyword(s):  
Jean Baudrillard ◽  
Cultural Logic ◽  
The Sublime ◽  
Advanced Capitalism ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Crisis Of Modernity ◽  
Fredric Jameson

RESUMENEl presente artículo pasa revista y analiza algunas de las tesis que Jean François Lyotard, Fredric Jameson y Jean Baudrillard construyeron para dar cuenta de las consecuencias de la llamada crisis de la modernidad y sus repercusiones en el arte. Se presta especial atención a categorías estéticas que surgieron a partir del resquebrajamiento de los pilares del edificio estético de Occidente bajo la globalización y la posmodernidad. De Lyotard se abordan su reflexión sobre la crisis de los grandes relatos y su noción de lo sublime, de Jameson sus apreciaciones sobre el pastiche, la moda retro bajo las lógicas culturales del capitalismo avanzado, y, de Baudrillard, los conceptos de transestética y estetización, y la pérdida de ilusión estética en la sociedad tecno-mediática y de mercados.PALABRAS CLAVESPosmodernidad, sublime, pastiche, moda retro, estetización.MUSO ALLI CHIKUNA SUGLLAPIKai kilkape willakume imasam kai kimsa runakuna Jean Francois Lyotard, Fredic Jameson y Jean Baudrillard rurankuna tukui mana allilla kaskakunata Kawangapa imasam kunaurra, ruranchi, paikuna allilla ñawe churranaku Kawangapa imasam kunaurra ruranchi, paikuna allilla ñawe shuranaku Kawangapa mana paquerechu tuku, kaipe willaku llukanchi llullarenga Allila mana kai atun llakiikuna pasarrengapa mana chingarrengachu Tukui allila ruranakuska tukui runakunamanda.IMA SUTI RIMAI SIMINespa musukauangapa, atun iuiai, kauaskatak rurangapa, kunaurra musu Kauai, retro, estatización.THE NEW SCENERIES OF ART. ABSTRACTThis article reviews and discusses some of the theses that Jean Francois Lyotard, Fredric Jameson and Jean Baudrillard advanced to account for the consequences of the so-called crisis of modernity and its impact on art. Special attention is given to the aesthetic categories that emerged from the breakdown of the pillars of the Western aesthetic building under globalization and postmodernity. From Lyotard, the article picks up his reflections on the crisis of the grand narratives and his notion of the sublime; from Jameson, his theoretical insights on the pastiche and the retro in fashion under the cultural logic of advanced capitalism; and from Baudrillard, the concepts of transaesthetics and aesthetization, and the loss of the aesthetic illusion in the techno-media and market society.KEYWORDSPostmodernism, sublime, pastiche, retro fashion, aesthetization. LES NOUVEAUX DÉCORS DE L’ART. RÉSUMÉCet article examine certaines des thèses que Jean François Lyotard, Fredric Jameson et Jean Baudrillard ont élaborées pour tenir compte des conséquences de la dite crise de la modernité et de son impact sur l’art. Une attention particulière est donnée aux catégories esthétiques qui ont émergé de l’effondrement des piliers de l’édifice esthétique occidental dans le cadre de la mondialisation et du postmodernisme. De Lyotard on aborde sa ré- flexion sur la crise des grands récits et sa notion du sublime ; de Jameson ses vues sur le pastiche et la mode rétro dans la logique culturelle du capitalisme avancé, et, de Baudrillard, les concepts de transesthétique et esthétisation, et la perte de l’illusion esthétique dans la société techno-médiatique et des marchés.MOTS CLÉSPostmodernisme, sublime, pastiche, mode rétro, esthétisation.OS NOVOS ENFEITES DA ARTE. RESUMOO presente artigo passa revista e analisa algumas das teses que Jean Françoeis Lyotard, Fredic Jameson e Jean Baudrillard construíram para dar conta das conseqüências da chamada crise da modernidade e suas repercussões na arte. Presta-se especial atenção a categorias estéticas que surgiram a partir do rachamento dos pilares do edifício estético do Ocidente sob a globalização e a pos-modernidade. De Jameson suas apreciações sobre o pasticho, a moda retro sob lógicas culturais do capitalismo avançado, e, de Baudrillard, os conceitos de trans-estética e estetização, e a perda de ilusão estética na sociedade tecno-mediática e de mercados.PALAVRAS CHAVESPos-modernidade, sublime, pasticho, moda retro, estetização.

scholarly journals I, Thou, and the Sphere Between: Reflections on Dancing Difference in One Direction

1969 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah S. Schwadron
Keyword(s):  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Creative Project ◽  
The Us ◽  
Artistic Representation ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Performance Project

This paper addresses the subjects of dance and exile in relation to diverse cultural histories in Germany and their resonances across distinct time periods. As my central example, I introduce Dancing Exile, an ongoing improvisation and performance project developed across borders, cultures, and experiences. The project underscores the work of political and artistic representation past and present in Hamburg, by looking at the lives of contemporary refugees alongside earlier Jewish holocaust histories tied to the cityscape. Sharing the collaborative work of performers from Afghanistan, Germany, and the US, including myself, I discuss the aesthetic and social dynamics of this ongoing creative project in relation to questions of migration, mobility, relationship, and exchange.

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