Reflective and Non-reflective Aesthetic Ideas in Kant's Theory of Art

Bibliographic Data

ID4160984
AuthorsMojca Kuplen (Alfred University, NY, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume61
Issue1
Pages1-16
Publication date2021-02-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe British Journal of Aesthetics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-0904 • E-ISSN: 1468-2842
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/aesthj/ayaa035
OpenAlexW3094457118
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited26

The aim of this paper is to resolve some of the inconsistencies within Kant's theory of aesthetic ideas that have been left unaddressed by previous interpretations. Specifically, Kant's text appears to be imbued with the following two tensions. First, there appears to be a conflict between his commitment to the view that mere sensations cannot function as vehicles for the communication of aesthetic ideas and his claim that musical tones, on account of being mere sensations, can express aesthetic ideas. Second, his description of musical form as consisting of a play of aesthetic ideas that leave behind no thoughts appears to be incongruous with his formulation of aesthetic ideas as free imaginative representations that contain a wealth of thoughts and meanings. If what it means to express aesthetic ideas is precisely to stimulate much thinking, then how can an object exist that expresses aesthetic ideas, but without leaving any thoughts behind? I attempt to resolve these two perceived tensions by proposing a distinction between reflective and non-reflective aesthetic ideas communicated by form and mere sensations respectively

Aesthetic experience · Aesthetic theory · Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Function (biology · Linguistics · Literature · Musical · Object (grammar · Historical Philosophy and Science · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Psychology

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