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Final Questions and Activities on Art and Aesthetics to Consider
Create a visual diagram of Kant’s ideas in the following passage—that is, on the pleasant, sensory impression, and judgment. Or provide a written, bullet-point setup of how he is differentiating each term. Try to put his ideas within your own words.
but everything which pleases without a concept would be counted as pleasant. In respect of the latter every one has his own opinion; and no one assumes, in another, agreement with his judgement of taste, which is always the case in a judgement of taste about beauty. I may call the first the taste of Sense, the second the taste of Reflection; so far as the first lays down mere private judgements, and the second judgements supposed to be generally valid (public), but in both cases aesthetical (not practical) judgements about an object merely in respect of the relation of its representation to the feeling of pleasure and pain. (Aesthetic Judgement 8)
For further consideration: What is the larger point that Kant is making on private and public notions of taste?
This chapter is an adaptation of The Originals: Classic Readings in Western Philosophy (on BC Campus) by Jeff McLaughlin, R. Adam Dastrup, and Maura Hahnenberger and is used under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International license.
- Added an introduction that includes learning objectives
- Added closing statement that includes questions for further reflection
- Removed writings of Aristotle