Samantha Matherne
Biographic Data
| ID | 995309 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Samantha Matherne |
| GIVEN NAMES | Samantha |
| FAMILY NAME | Matherne |
| SIGNATURE | MATHERNE S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Harvard University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4619-5563 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 48 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Kantian Imagination and the Extent of Exhibition: Reply to Grüne, Williams, and Biss
Cassirer on method, the a priori, and culture: A reply
1. In the 1920s, Cassirer had the good fortune of participating in the intellectual community that gathered around the Warburg Library in Hamburg.1 This “dreamland of humanists” had a profound impa
Seeing More: Kant’s Theory of Imagination
The book defends a systematic interpretation of the philosopher Immanuel Kant’s theory of imagination. To this end, it offers an account of what kind of mental capacity Kant takes imagination to be in general, as well as an account of the way in which we use this capacity in theoretical, aesthetic, and practical contexts. In contrast with more traditional theories of imagination, as a kind of fantasy that we exercise only in relation to objects t…
Aesthetic Autonomy and Norms of Exposure
Is there tension in a view of the conditions of being in a proper position to make aesthetic evaluations that is committed to aesthetic autonomy and norms of exposure? I define ‘aesthetic autonomy’ in terms of the Kantian idea that in order to make a proper aesthetic evaluation, one must rely on oneself rather than on any outside source. I define ‘norms of exposure’ in terms of the Humean idea that practice and aesthetic education are conditions …
Aesthetic Learners and Underachievers: Symposium on Dom Lopes’s Being for beauty
Schiller on Freedom and Aesthetic Value: Part II
In his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, Friedrich Schiller draws a striking connection between aesthetic value and individual and political freedom, claiming that, 'it is only through beauty that man makes his way to freedom'. However, contemporary ways of thinking about freedom and aesthetic value make it difficult to see what the connection could be. Through a careful reconstruction of the Letters, we argue that Schiller's theory of a…
Edith Landmann-Kalischer on Aesthetic Demarcation and Normativity
Two perennial questions in aesthetics, among others, are the demarcation question, viz., what, if anything, distinguishes the aesthetic domain from the cognitive or moral domains, and the normative question, viz., what kind of normativity, if any, does the aesthetic domain involve. Although recent attempts to answer these questions can be found in contemporary literature, in this paper I examine the answers defended by the early phenomenologist E…
Schiller on Freedom and Aesthetic Value: Part I
In his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, Friedrich Schiller draws a striking connection between aesthetic value and individual and political freedom, claiming that, 'it is only through beauty that man makes his way to freedom'. However, contemporary ways of thinking about freedom and aesthetic value make it difficult to see what the connection could be. Through a careful reconstruction of the Letters, we argue that Schiller's theory of a…
The Normativity of Nature: Essays on Kant's “Critique of Judgement.”
In the introduction to the third Critique, Kant offers the following description of a distinctive sort of pleasure that he thinks obtains in our scientific investigation of nature: “The discovered unifiability of two or more empirically heterogeneous laws of nature under a principle that comprehends them both is the ground of a very noticeable pleasure, often indeed of admiration, even of one which does not cease though one is already sufficientl…
Art and Ethics in a Material World: Kant's Pragmatist Legacy
In this book, McMahon aims to bring to light Kant's pragmatist legacy by showing how pragmatist moral and aesthetic theories (e.g., those defended by Dewey, Habermas, Putnam, Shusterman, among others) are properly understood as developments of Kant's account of aesthetic judgement in the third Critique. Taking aim at both formalist interpretations of Kant and pragmatists who distance their views from Kant's, McMahon argues that Kant's aesthetics …
Kant and the Art of Schematism
In the Critique of Pure Reason , Kant describes schematism as a ‘hidden art in the depths of the human soul’ (A141/B180–1). While most commentators treat this as Kant's metaphorical way of saying schematism is something too obscure to explain, I argue that we should follow up Kant's clue and treat schematism literally as Kunst . By letting our interpretation of schematism be guided by Kant's theoretically exact ways of using the term Kunst in the…
The Inclusive Interpretation of Kant's Aesthetic Ideas
In the Critique of the Power of Judgment, Kant offers a theory of artistic expression in which he claims that a work of art is a medium through which an artist expresses an 'aesthetic idea'. While Kant's theory of aesthetic ideas often receives rather restrictive interpretations, according to which aesthetic ideas can either present only moral concepts, or only moral concepts and purely rational concepts, in this article I offer an 'inclusive int…
The Inclusive Interpretation of Kant's Aesthetic Ideas
In the Critique of the Power of Judgment, Kant offers a theory of artistic expression in which he claims that a work of art is a medium through which an artist expresses an 'aesthetic idea'. While Kant's theory of aesthetic ideas often receives rather restrictive interpretations, according to which aesthetic ideas can either present only moral concepts, or only moral concepts and purely rational concepts, in this article I offer an 'inclusive int…
Schiller on Freedom and Aesthetic Value: Part I
In his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, Friedrich Schiller draws a striking connection between aesthetic value and individual and political freedom, claiming that, 'it is only through beauty that man makes his way to freedom'. However, contemporary ways of thinking about freedom and aesthetic value make it difficult to see what the connection could be. Through a careful reconstruction of the Letters, we argue that Schiller's theory of a…
Edith Landmann-Kalischer on Aesthetic Demarcation and Normativity
Two perennial questions in aesthetics, among others, are the demarcation question, viz., what, if anything, distinguishes the aesthetic domain from the cognitive or moral domains, and the normative question, viz., what kind of normativity, if any, does the aesthetic domain involve. Although recent attempts to answer these questions can be found in contemporary literature, in this paper I examine the answers defended by the early phenomenologist E…
Schiller on Freedom and Aesthetic Value: Part II
In his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, Friedrich Schiller draws a striking connection between aesthetic value and individual and political freedom, claiming that, 'it is only through beauty that man makes his way to freedom'. However, contemporary ways of thinking about freedom and aesthetic value make it difficult to see what the connection could be. Through a careful reconstruction of the Letters, we argue that Schiller's theory of a…
Seeing More: Kant’s Theory of Imagination
The book defends a systematic interpretation of the philosopher Immanuel Kant’s theory of imagination. To this end, it offers an account of what kind of mental capacity Kant takes imagination to be in general, as well as an account of the way in which we use this capacity in theoretical, aesthetic, and practical contexts. In contrast with more traditional theories of imagination, as a kind of fantasy that we exercise only in relation to objects t…
Aesthetic Learners and Underachievers: Symposium on Dom Lopes’s Being for beauty
The Inclusive Interpretation of Kant's Aesthetic Ideas
In the Critique of the Power of Judgment, Kant offers a theory of artistic expression in which he claims that a work of art is a medium through which an artist expresses an 'aesthetic idea'. While Kant's theory of aesthetic ideas often receives rather restrictive interpretations, according to which aesthetic ideas can either present only moral concepts, or only moral concepts and purely rational concepts, in this article I offer an 'inclusive int…
Kant and the Art of Schematism
In the Critique of Pure Reason , Kant describes schematism as a ‘hidden art in the depths of the human soul’ (A141/B180–1). While most commentators treat this as Kant's metaphorical way of saying schematism is something too obscure to explain, I argue that we should follow up Kant's clue and treat schematism literally as Kunst . By letting our interpretation of schematism be guided by Kant's theoretically exact ways of using the term Kunst in the…
The Normativity of Nature: Essays on Kant's “Critique of Judgement.”
In the introduction to the third Critique, Kant offers the following description of a distinctive sort of pleasure that he thinks obtains in our scientific investigation of nature: “The discovered unifiability of two or more empirically heterogeneous laws of nature under a principle that comprehends them both is the ground of a very noticeable pleasure, often indeed of admiration, even of one which does not cease though one is already sufficientl…
Art and Ethics in a Material World: Kant's Pragmatist Legacy
In this book, McMahon aims to bring to light Kant's pragmatist legacy by showing how pragmatist moral and aesthetic theories (e.g., those defended by Dewey, Habermas, Putnam, Shusterman, among others) are properly understood as developments of Kant's account of aesthetic judgement in the third Critique. Taking aim at both formalist interpretations of Kant and pragmatists who distance their views from Kant's, McMahon argues that Kant's aesthetics …
Edith Landmann-Kalischer on Aesthetic Demarcation and Normativity
Two perennial questions in aesthetics, among others, are the demarcation question, viz., what, if anything, distinguishes the aesthetic domain from the cognitive or moral domains, and the normative question, viz., what kind of normativity, if any, does the aesthetic domain involve. Although recent attempts to answer these questions can be found in contemporary literature, in this paper I examine the answers defended by the early phenomenologist E…
Schiller on Freedom and Aesthetic Value: Part I
In his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, Friedrich Schiller draws a striking connection between aesthetic value and individual and political freedom, claiming that, 'it is only through beauty that man makes his way to freedom'. However, contemporary ways of thinking about freedom and aesthetic value make it difficult to see what the connection could be. Through a careful reconstruction of the Letters, we argue that Schiller's theory of a…
Aesthetic Autonomy and Norms of Exposure
Is there tension in a view of the conditions of being in a proper position to make aesthetic evaluations that is committed to aesthetic autonomy and norms of exposure? I define ‘aesthetic autonomy’ in terms of the Kantian idea that in order to make a proper aesthetic evaluation, one must rely on oneself rather than on any outside source. I define ‘norms of exposure’ in terms of the Humean idea that practice and aesthetic education are conditions …
Aesthetic Learners and Underachievers: Symposium on Dom Lopes’s Being for beauty
Schiller on Freedom and Aesthetic Value: Part II
In his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, Friedrich Schiller draws a striking connection between aesthetic value and individual and political freedom, claiming that, 'it is only through beauty that man makes his way to freedom'. However, contemporary ways of thinking about freedom and aesthetic value make it difficult to see what the connection could be. Through a careful reconstruction of the Letters, we argue that Schiller's theory of a…
Cassirer on method, the a priori, and culture: A reply
1. In the 1920s, Cassirer had the good fortune of participating in the intellectual community that gathered around the Warburg Library in Hamburg.1 This “dreamland of humanists” had a profound impa
Seeing More: Kant’s Theory of Imagination
The book defends a systematic interpretation of the philosopher Immanuel Kant’s theory of imagination. To this end, it offers an account of what kind of mental capacity Kant takes imagination to be in general, as well as an account of the way in which we use this capacity in theoretical, aesthetic, and practical contexts. In contrast with more traditional theories of imagination, as a kind of fantasy that we exercise only in relation to objects t…
Kantian Imagination and the Extent of Exhibition: Reply to Grüne, Williams, and Biss
Philosophy (10 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Aesthetics (7 works) · Philosophical Ethics and Theory (7 works) · Mathematics (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Beauty (4 works) · Ethics, Aesthetics, and Art (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Philosophy and Theoretical Science (4 works)