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The Critique of Judgement
... In the Critique of Judgment, Immanuel Kant describes the three maxims of common human understanding. These maxims include: to think for oneself, to think from the standpoint of everyone else, and to think always consistently (Kant, 1987). The first maxim, "to think for oneself," emphasizes the value of autonomous thinking and the rejection of intellectual passivity. ...
... Indeed, according to Kant, the word "common" means the same as vulgar; that is, what is shared by everyone, and having it is not a sign of merit and superiority (Kant, 1987, p. 160) In other words, Kant describes "common sense" not as an elevated or refined understanding, but rather as a basic and universal faculty of judgment inherent in all human beings. According to Kant, this form of understanding is "common" in the sense of being shared among all individuals, and it represents a kind of rudimentary wisdom that should be expected from any rational person (Kant, 1987). He emphasizes that having this common sense does 2 But not yet cultivated. ...
... This form of understanding demands that we transcend our private mental states and make judgments that are informed by the collective intellect of humanity. Kant asserts that, to avoid errors stemming from individual biases or subjective illusions, our judgments must be adapted to a shared human understanding, formed a priori through the imaginative consideration of other people's perspectives (Kant, 1987). Therefore, he describes the three maxims of common human understanding as follows: (Kant, 1987) To think for oneself: This is the maxim of an unprejudiced way of thinking. ...
This article explores the intersection of Immanuel Kant’s maxims of common human understanding and the Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI). Kant’s three maxims—thinking for oneself, considering others' perspectives, and maintaining logical consistency—are foundational to philosophical reasoning and education. The CPI framework, originally developed by Matthew Lipman and Ann Margaret Sharp, encourages critical, creative, and collaborative thinking among children. The study examines how CPI aligns with Kant’s ideals, fostering intellectual autonomy, perspective-taking, and systematic reasoning in education. Drawing from John Dewey’s pragmatism and Walter Benjamin’s insights on childhood imagination, the article highlights how CPI integrates independent thinking and collective dialogue to cultivate critical reflection and ethical awareness. Moreover, the paper argues that CPI can be an effective pedagogical model for addressing contemporary challenges such as misinformation, political polarization, and civic disengagement. Through open-ended discussions, students learn to critically evaluate information, challenge assumptions, and develop social responsibility. By implementing CPI methodologies, educators can create inclusive learning environments that promote inquiry, intellectual integrity, and democratic engagement. This synthesis suggests that Kant’s philosophical principles, when applied through CPI, can enhance modern education by fostering individuals who are not only rational thinkers but also socially responsible citizens capable of constructive dialogue and ethical decision-making.
... Actually, he did know, and he also had enough imagination to see this beauty in the spectrum curves, which is perhaps not quite the same but not fundamentally different. This is the problem of our phenomenal experience, as Kant realized in defining the beautiful or the sublime, sometimes used in describing a rainbow as well, on which I shall comment below, [42]. In the case of the spectrum curves, mathematics becomes part of our experience, as something we can see in our mind's eye or on paper, such as a diagram, a graph, a figure, or an equation, which a mathematical physicist, like Feynman, or a mathematician can experience as beautiful. ...
... The mathematics of quantum theory, including that of Feynman's path integrals, must have been on his mind, however. Feynman might not have been aware either (although it is possible that he was) of Keats's appeal to the rainbow in his poem Lamia, as something beautiful or rather sublime, "awful," in Kant's sense of "absolutely great," and thus, while visible, escaping being captured or framed by imagination, [42]. I have discussed this passage on an earlier occasion, [60], but would like, in closing, to revisit it, revising this earlier discussion from the perspective of this chapter. ...
... Keats may be right about fleeing charms, at least some of them. Kant, incidentally, distinguished the beautiful from merely charming, [42]. Would the "beautiful," which, in creating poetry "obliterates all [other] considerations" for Keats, would also fly "at the mere touch of cold philosophy"? ...
This chapter considers mathematics, with a special emphasis on geometry, as combining mathematical and artistic thinking. By artistic thinking I do not refer to aesthetic aspects of mathematics or mathematical aspects of art or aesthetics, which subjects are only marginally addressed in the article. Instead, I focus on creative aspects of mathematics as the invention of new concepts, theories, or fields. As my subtitle indicates, this argument, beginning with the term “poetics,” follows that of Aristotle’s Poetics [Peri poietike~s], a treatise on ancient Greek poetry, the title of which is derived from the ancient Greek word poeien meaning “making,” putting something together. Aristotle’s Poetics is about how literature is made or composed. Aristotle did not apply the term poetics to mathematics and did not consider mathematics in this way, focusing instead, in his other works, on logical aspects of mathematics. By contrast, I argue, under the heading of the composition principle, that, as a creative endeavor, mathematics is primarily defined by its compositional nature, rather than by its logical or calculational aspects, essential as the latter are. Of course, while compositional, mathematics is not the same as literature and art. In particular, the poetics of mathematics is the poetics of concepts, which play a more limited role in literature and art, and ally mathematics or mathematical sciences, such as physics, more with philosophy. Two other principles define mathematics, as well as science, in the present view: the continuity principle (found in literature and art as well) and the unambiguity principle (not necessary in literature and art). The chapter introduces yet another principle in considering the nature of reality, the “reality without realism” (RWR) principle, which in the case of mathematics, where the primary reality considered in mental, becomes the “ideality without idealism” (IWI) principle.
... Objects of the senses are material, and matter is inert, while organisms change "from an internal principle" (Kant [1786. 5 Kant thus claimed that although organisms must be described in terms of teleology and self-generation, they cannot be explained as such, that is, their essential properties cannot be derived from material and mechanical causes (Kant [1790(Kant [ ], 2008. The subjectively necessary interpretation of organisms as teleologically self-generating entities cannot be unified with an objective, mechanistic and materialistic conception of nature. ...
... In the Critique of Judgment Kant showed that in order to cognize an organism, one must apply "concepts of reason" and assume a productive power capable of "acting according to ends", just as one must accept concept-guided, purposive action as the cause of a hexagon drawn on the sand (Kant [1790(Kant [ ], 2008. Importantly, Kant did not primarily discuss the objective status of an organism but the problem of subjectively cognizing it-"even to know it empirically in respect of its cause and effect" (ibid., 5:370). ...
... According to Kant, the concept of teleological self-generation ("acting according to ends") cannot be reconciled with the concept of nature "as the sum of objects of the senses", and "the actual existence of these ends cannot be proved by experience" (Kant [1790(Kant [ ], 2008. 8 Although this latter notion seems evident, it may be questioned. ...
This article proposes an empirical approach to understanding the life of an organism that overcomes reductionist and dualist conceptions. The approach is based on Immanuel Kant's analysis of the cognitive conditions required for the recognition of an organism: the concept of teleology and the assumption of a formative power of self-generation. It is analyzed how these two criteria are applied in the cog-nition of a developing organism. Using the example of a developmental series of a plant leaf, an active and relational process between observer and developing organism is shown, within which the teleology and self-generating power of the organism can be empirically observed through the mental faculties of understanding and will. Furthermore, it is emphasized that, according to Kant, even physical objects are not readily given, but are actively constituted through the unification of sense perceptions with concepts. This Kantian mode of objectification facilitates cognition of the physical properties of an organism. It can be supplemented with a participatory and co-constitutive mode of realization, in which the teleologically organizing and self-generating power of the organism can become an object of empirical research. It is argued that the participatory mode also facilitates an expanded conception of nature that allows for the existence of living beings within it. Finally, an analogy to Goe-the's approach to the living organism is highlighted. In summary, it is stated that it is possible to understand life by consciously participating in it.
... The notion of agency is part of a long history of attempts to characterize the essential, distinctive properties of living systems. A well-known proposal by Immanuel Kant is that organisms are "natural purposes," defined as entities that are both the causes and effects of themselves (Kant [1790(Kant [ ] 1966. By this definition, no such thing is found in the nonliving world. ...
... The notion of agency is part of a long history of attempts to characterize the essential, distinctive properties of living systems. A well-known proposal by Immanuel Kant is that organisms are "natural purposes," defined as entities that are both the causes and effects of themselves (Kant [1790(Kant [ ] 1966. By this definition, no such thing is found in the nonliving world. ...
... The Roman satirist Juvenal has also written about Roman women's "features lost under a damp bread face-pack, or greasy with vanishing-cream that clings to her husband's lips when the poor man kisses her -though it's all wiped off for her lover" (D'Ambra, 2007, p. 48). Hence beauty standards were based on aesthetic judgments of beautiful in nature and art or beauty in sublime (Kant, 1987). However, the 19 th century disagreed on a commonly agreed definition of beauty, placing it in a moral order based on physical appearance, hair color, complexion, and facial appearance (Brand & Korsmeyer, 1995;Lois, 2006;Sally, 1996). ...
... This aesthetic tradition of defining beauty has been challenged by sociologists, critics, postmodernists, and artists, especially as the meaning of beauty needs understanding in a historical, social, and cultural context (Brand & Korsmeyer, 1996;Kant, 1987). Every era described a culturally specific standard of beauty, with the hourglass figure in 1890's, the flapper girl's boyish charm in the 1920's and the unisex look of the 1960s referencing classic beauty from historical times, Roman and Grecian beauties considered ethereal while the African beauties considered exotic (Beardsley, 1975;Nancy, 2000;Peiss Kathy, 2000). ...
The concept of idealized beauty standards has fascinated women for centuries, making them pursue unrealistic standards of beauty augured by cultural messages and images promoted by a variety of sources. This research studies the anthropological perspectives of manufactured beauty standards since the late 19tth and early 20th century, which have received scant attention in marketing research. Guided by the perspective of gendered subjectivity of manufactured beauty standards, this research shifts the narrative from beauty as a mere consumption practise towards attributing women's perspective of beauty to patriarchal regimes of body and the degree of agency determining personal choice. The research focusses on the study, practice, and actual meaning of beauty in day-today life through historical perspectives since the late 19 th century, leading toward the formulation of the ideal body image, introduction of cosmetics, and the changing faces of cosmetic marking amidst a backdrop 1 Neetu Singh is a PhD in Fashion Business. Her areas of interest are marketing, branding, retail management, and supply chain management in fashion. Her research interests include brand experience in fashion retail, consumer behaviour studies and supply chain management in fashion. She works at the grassroot level with artisans and craftsmen ,working towards community betterment and revitalising languishing textile art forms of India. Alternatively her research publications have delved deep into circular economy, sustainable textile and apparel supply chains and creation of optimal service experience in the apparel retail industry. 2 Niketa Chakraborty is a course lead of fashion communication at Pearl Academy. Her areas of interest are Marketing, Management, / Strategic Thinking: Strategic Management, and Advertising Management. Her research works include consumer behavior studies in sustainable fashion and marketing performance and analysis of firms. of cultural, economic and political changes by the early 20 th century. Data for this research has been collected and analysed from various literary sources, like books, publications, journals, and Internet archives to understand the role of print magazines, advertisements, and Hollywood culture influencing the advent and spread of cosmetics through marketing during this era. The findings indicate that the middle-class rise in consumer culture created opportunities for beauty and fashion industries, which created a commercial mass media perpetuated "beauty culture," projecting beauty and fashion as representations and sold to women consumers as tangible goods and services. RESUMO: O conceito de padrões de beleza idealizados tem fascinado as mulheres durante séculos, levando-as a perseguir padrões de beleza irrealistas, alimentados por mensagens e imagens culturais promovidas por uma variedade de fontes. Esta investigação estuda as perspectivas antropológicas dos padrões de beleza fabricados desde o final do século XIX e início do século XX, que têm recebido pouca atenção na investigação de marketing. Orientada pela perspetiva da subjetividade de género dos padrões de beleza fabricados, esta investigação desloca a narrativa da beleza como uma mera prática de consumo para atribuir a perspetiva de beleza das mulheres aos regimes patriarcais do corpo e ao grau de agência que determina a escolha pessoal. A investigação centra-se no estudo, na prática e no significado real da beleza na vida quotidiana através de perspectivas históricas desde o final do século XIX, conduzindo à formulação da imagem corporal ideal, à introdução de cosméticos e à mudança das faces da marcação cosmética num contexto de mudanças culturais, económicas e políticas no início do século XX. Os dados para esta investigação foram recolhidos e analisados a partir de várias fontes literárias, como livros, publicações, jornais e arquivos da Internet para compreender o papel das revistas impressas, dos anúncios publicitários e da cultura de Hollywood que influenciaram o advento e a difusão dos cosméticos através do marketing durante esta época. Os resultados indicam que a ascensão da classe média na cultura de consumo criou oportunidades para as indústrias da beleza e da moda, que criaram uma "cultura da beleza" perpetuada pelos meios de comunicação de massas comerciais, projectando a beleza e a moda como representações e vendidas às mulheres consumidoras como bens e serviços tangíveis.
... 53-54]. On this basis, I. Kant's axiological priorities are formed based on aesthetic representations and are associated with the criteria of pleasure and pain, which are the basis of the aesthetic ability to judge [2]. I. Kant believes that a "merely subjective (aesthetical) judging of the object, or of the representation by which it is given, precedes the pleasure in it, and is the ground of this pleasure in the harmony of the cognitive faculties…" [2, p. 65]. ...
... A thorough survey of contemporary philosophical reflection is presented in the article "Art, Morality and Ethics: On the (Im)Moral Character of Art Works and Inter-Relations to Artistic Value" [4]. Several philosophical visions have been historically elaborated on the value of an art work considered under its moral relevance [5][6][7]. In the contemporary society, the complexity of opposite concepts such as aestheticism, ethicism, antitheoretical point of view, or moderate moralism/immoralism, does not allow binary radical conclusions. ...
Philosophy has questioned the nature of beauty, aesthetics and ethics since old times. Recent scientific explorations and philosophical thinking constantly deepen the understanding and knowledge about the abundant complexity of the intricate natural and cultural elements in the world. Contemporary interpretations of the role of art and artists confront opposite points of view: for some, art is free to express any opinion and philosophy of life even imprinted by violence and destructivity; for others, art is part of the human efforts to preserve the natural and the cultural life in the world. In this discussion about Art, we have to clarify the relationship between aesthetics and beauty before considering ethical issues. On the contrary, in art therapy, Ethics is a fundamental component of any professional strategy. The creative process is therapeutic only if the art therapist is able to establish an ethical relationship with the client and groups. The empathic creative relationship is specific to art therapy and needs theoretical underpinnings and elaborated methodologies. In this field, the concept of aesthetics and correlated forms of beauty has to be analysed in the perspective of the clients’ well-being.
... The formal and contextual characteristics of Yeats's poetry changed utterly by the time he read Spinoza, Kant, andHegel. Michael Robartes andthe Dancer (1921), The Tower (1928), and The ...
In this essay, I extend the critical discussion of Yeats’s interpretation of crisis and catastrophe. To do this, I examine Yeats’s reading of nihilism and show that he adopts a generative formulation of the philosophy, one that is represented by the works of Baruch Spinoza, Immanuel Kant, and Georg Hegel. Together, their understanding of the idea removes the negativity of nothingness and imbues it with generative capabilities. Spinoza, Kant, and Hegel all illustrate the subject, whether the individual person or the idea of God and Nature, as using the void of nothingness for redemption after experiencing a dissolution of “everything.” I then interrogate the ways in which Yeats borrows representations of “disaster” from generative nihilism and executes this imagery in his later poetry, including Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), The Tower (1928), and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933). Considering his interest in creation that these volumes exhibit, Yeats uses the gnostic catastrophe of Spinoza, Kant’s reduction of the subject into a nonsubstantial void, and the Kantian and Hegelian sublime to diminish chaos to stillness. This allows him to extract the creative capacity from nothingness and imbue the void with creative possibility, an aim that he ultimately reaches at the conclusion of The Winding Stair.
... Incongruity theories (e.g., Kant, 1951) state in various ways that humour consists of the juxtaposition of the incongruous. Indeed, such incongruity seems to be a ubiquitous quality of humour stimuli such as jokes and cartoons. ...
... The first category includes incongruity theories (e.g., Kant, 1951). At their most basic level, they claim that it is an incongruity in the trigger (stimulus) that creates humour. ...
An attempt is made to define humour by looking at the etymology of the word, a conceptual map of labels, and an integration of humour theories. The process of humour appreciation is assessed along with the use of humour as a tool. The need for a shared context in order to "decode" humour makes it exclusionary and the existence of a ridiculed target makes humour aggressive. Humour is ethical to the degree that the butt is consenting and/or deserving, and depends on the fiduciary duty of the initiator. It is hoped that this discussion will stimulate scholars to undertake a careful ethical analysis.
... We can notably think of Friedrich Schiller for whom the concept of play is central to aesthetic education. He builds on Immanuel Kant's famous idea of beauty as the free play of imagination and understanding in the Critique of the Power of Judgment(Kant 2008;Schiller 2016).11 My translation: 'Faire bouger les règles du langage-et donc le sens-, tel est l'enjeu de toute littérature pour qui le livre a cessé d'être le théâtre du monde pour devenir le théâtre du langage.' 5 WITTGENSTEIN'S PERFORMATIVE POETICS AND CONTEMPORARY… ...
The first part of this book has shown the potential and the limits of Austin’s speech-act theory to approach poetic uses of language. We have seen in Chap. 3 that perlocution is the best candidate to understand the poetic effects of language, but it remains difficult to conceptualise without falling back into what Wittgenstein calls a ‘craving for generality’. Indeed, poetic effects of language seem hard to distinguish from the rather vague effects of language in general. How can we specify the effects—the performativity—of poetic utterances? To answer this question, we need to take a step back from the utterances themselves to the broader situation in which they are uttered. In other words, we need to move from Austin’s speech-acts to Wittgenstein’s language-games. In contrast to Austin’s speech-act qua utterance, a language-game consists in an activity that might combine various kinds of speech-acts. In this chapter, I argue that contemporary French readings of Wittgenstein bring to the fore the performative dimension of poetic language-games and help specify the effects of poetry.
This article examines the intersection of philosophy and cybernetics, proposing Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory as a crucial foundation for renewed cybernetics in the twenty- first century. By revisiting Norbert Wiener’s foundational insights and reinterpreting key cybernetic principles, it explores how Luhmann’s second-order observation and the concept of meaning challenge the traditional distinctions between human consciousness and technology. The paper argues that Luhmann’s approach not only addresses concerns of dehumanization in a technologically advanced society but also offers a dynamic framework for rethinking human self-perception and social organization without denying it cybernetic foundations. This exploration highlights the potential of systems theory to redefine the philosophical significance of cybernetics, providing tools for understanding the evolving interactions among humans, machines, and society in modernity.
This paper explores the currency of what I term the “Holocaust sublime” in North America. In contrast to, for instance, Hannah Arendt’s historically grounded perspective, popular understandings of the Holocaust have gravitated toward spiritualized and ahistorical interpretations. This trend persists despite the emergence of Michael Rothberg’s theory of “multidirectional memory,” which in many ways perpetuates such spiritualization. Scholars have attributed this persistence to various factors, including the influence of Zionist ideology, American exceptionalism, and media portrayals that frame the Holocaust as a unique, incomprehensible event. This article argues that underpinning these dynamics is what, borrowing from Immanuel Kant, I call the Holocaust sublime: a visceral experience that evokes feelings of social cohesion, heroism, and morality. Drawing on survivor literature, archival documents from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, memoirs, ethnographies, and interviews with visitors to and trustees of sites of Holocaust memory, this paper explores why such spiritual construals were naturalized, laying special emphasis on fostering diverse social, spiritual, and political projects within Jewish communities, from Zionism to North American acculturation.
ABSTRACT
Introducing a fresh approach to conceptualising and actioning high-quality teaching in higher education, this essential volume fills a gap in current literature by expanding beyond the mere ‘delivery’ of teaching. Instead, it offers an evidence-based discussion of ‘artistry’ and demonstrates how this may be applied successfully within a higher education setting to enable better student learning. Key concepts such as improvisation, embodiment, knowing oneself and one’s students, and a compassionate and relational approach to facilitating learning are unpacked throughout.
Filled with practical examples based on scholarship and experience from and applicable to a wide range of disciplines, The Artistry of Teaching in Higher Education is divided into three distinct parts which explore:
Creativity, improvisation and context;
Authenticity and professional identity;
Developing the artistry of teaching.
An essential read for teachers, senior management, educational developers, and policy makers alike, this book acts as a call to action within higher education institutions to support and create space for learning, creativity and innovation, to the benefit of the development of their teachers’ expertise.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Toward the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, sublimity was neglected and untended; the sublime was relegated to the margin of intellectual arena. It was until the middle of the twentieth century, the time of the rise and the development of postmodernism, the sublime rose to the surface of critical thought. In a series of writings, Jean-Francois Lyotard, along with Jameson, Nancy and other prominent postmodern thinkers, have emphasized the alienating, destructive aspects of the sublime, which relate to the "unpresentable." The postmodern sublime, as (differend), is structured by the contradictions, aporias, hysteria, and schizophrenia; in fact, it bespeaks the postmodern global system characterized by fragmentation, particularly the dissociation of signs and their arbitrary referents. Postmodernism, therefore, evinces the decline of social agreement and the withering of the individual, and the postmodern age is apocalyptic fin-de-millennium. As a result, the postmodern experience is one in which the individual subject is fragmented, overpowered, or annihilated, as the social realm and any notion of the community suffers a similar erasure. So, as the dominant postmodern ontological frame of mind is "overwhelmed" by the aesthetic of the sublime, the aesthetic of the beautiful is subverted or relegated to the margin.
The Anthropocene sublime is a necessarily hybrid concept, one that is generated from a palimpsest of previous iterations of sublimity, and which is critically modified by contemporary crisis. Alexander R. Galloway’s notion of the “juridico-geometric sublime” captures this hybridity in its combination of Romantic play with the homeostatic model of cybernetics, which brings into effect a synthesis of digital unrepresentability and Romantic freedom. Operating as a figure for the incommensurability generated by the confluence of the Romantic sublime and the cybernetic control paradigm, this version of the sublime also relates the concept to the impact of systems of power on aesthetic representation. This article aims to fill in the ecological gap in Galloway’s conceptualization, while applying this hybrid sublime to the current era of environmental entanglement. In doing so, it argues that a contemporary, Anthropocene sublime reveals both the lingering impact of Romantic modes of environmental thought and the dominance of a cybernetics-derived concept of a mappable technological biosphere. The magnitude of the totality such a hybrid form constitutes is what inspires the experience of terror and awe that characterizes the sublime. The work of the poet Jorie Graham and the artist Trevor Paglen provide vital documents of the hybrid states and representational impasses of this contemporary sublime, as they demonstrate how natural processes are always already folded into economic and technological systems, while nature is both in our devices and irrevocably exteriorized. In different ways, their work demonstrates the essential incommensurability that is generated by the combination of the Romantic and the cybernetic modes of sublimity, while mapping out the political suspension that an Anthropocene sublime necessarily generates.
Permanent link to our full co-edited special focus section of Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment: https://hdl.handle.net/2268/331331
The article engages with a recent discussion in philosophy and social sciences on the function and the history of the concept of crisis by proposing a short genealogical investigation of the concept of a crisis of culture. Similarly to other uses of the notion of crisis, a crisis of culture is a term that has been widely used in philosophy, the humanities and the social sciences, however , without being precisely defined or analysed. For this reason, the critical inquiry into the function and meaning of crisis in philosophy formulated here takes the form of a genealogy of philosophy of culture. Instead of attempting to provide a definition of the concept of crisis, the article traces how the notion of crisis-in particular a crisis of culture-played a definite role in formulating early theories of the philosophy of culture and how various authors used this notion to mark out the philosophy of culture as a separate field of inquiry. Special attention is given to authors-like Georg Simmel and Ernesto de Martino-who went against the dominant tendency to treat crisis as a threat or a problem to be overcome and instead described a crisis of culture as a defining element of culture itself-and maybe even the main problem of the philosophy of culture. KEYWORDS crisis; crisis of culture; philosophy of culture; genealogy of crisis;
The digital sphere of our present era is characterized by transformative technological advancements that reshape our understanding of both material reality and digital hyperreality. As technology propels us towards unprecedented possibilities, questions of identity, societal norms, and ethical considerations come to the forefront. The aim of this paper is to put forward an appropriate conception of authenticity, manifested through a relational form of creativity and a radical form of diversity, within the context of and towards the potential landscape of a digital eutopia. The conjunction of relational creativity and radical diversity could be developed through groundbreaking technologies in society and its economy, avant-garde artistic expressions and novel approaches to sustainable development and equitable communication—this could be the source of social innovative and useful ideas, experiences, and practices through a deviant continuity in-between the physical reality and the digital hyperreal landscape.
This paper aims to determine whether Darwin’s theory of evolution was influenced by German Naturphilosophie. I start with a brief presentation of Naturphilosophie, a scientific and aesthetic approach that emphasizes the holistic understanding of the natural system and the interrelation of its parts. As I show, Naturphilosophen acknowledges the existence of a specific relation of reciprocal causality between
various parts of nature, and recognize the valuable causal agency of life in the natural system. Moving forward, I analyze Darwin’s theory of evolution and identify the fundamental hypotheses of his conceptual framework. Since Naturphilosophen endorse a holistic conception of nature, and highlight the presence of reciprocal causality between its parts, I examine whether Darwin adopts any of these assumptions about the natural system. I turn to his understanding of the struggle for survival – a phenomenon that captures various relations between organisms and their environment. My analysis shows that Darwin recognizes the causal activity of the natural environment, but neglects the ability of organisms to modify their habitat for the sake of survival. Thus, he establishes the causal asymmetry between these two fundamental parts of his worldview. If that is the case, then Darwin’s theory does not represent a (fully) holistic worldview of nature, and the influence of Naturphilosophen on the formulation of his evolutionary theory is only partial.
The article is dedicated to analyzing the nature of genius in the context of the development of fiction about artists. From the biographies of the famous Renaissance artists by G. Vasari, who made one of the first attempts at chronicling the lives of geniuses of his time, to modern fictionalized biographies of genius artists – we can trace the desire of writers to comprehend the nature of the artists and sculptors’ genius. The foundation of the concept of genius can be found in Immanuel Kant’s works, which synthesized theories developed previously and influenced the understanding of genius by future generations. The paper analyses the consonance of Kant’s aesthetics with the concept of genius in fictionalized biographies of F. Goya, M. Bashkirtseva, V. van Gogh, P. Gauguin, O. Novakivskyi, K. Bilokur, P. Picasso, V. Tsymbal, S. Karaffa-Korbut and other artists, while focusing on the Ukrainian texts of the 20th–early 21st centuries. The research attempts to single out and analyze elements of conceptualizing the notion of genius in novels, including the concepts of the beautiful and the sublime in art, recognition of genius in society, the gender aspect of genius, the issues of heredity, and others. The representation of the image of genius in visual arts, iconography, and the cult of genius are discussed within an intermedial framework.The research relies on literary and art criticism methodology and comparative and intermedial studies.
This chapter is a meditation (what Nietzsche would call “untimely”—since it is out of season with thoughts now) on affect. Affect is other ways of knowing: it is a resistance to any “monologic,” an insurrection against logic itself. Comprised of heterogeneous singularities, the essay is not an undoing of affect by calculatory reason, but an unshallowing of affect through materialist meditation and its mediations… materialist not in the matterist sense to which affect is conventionally bound but in the sense of labour and its complex, dialectical relations. A form of “parology” (Lyotard), the essay is at once a breaking of rules and a pathway beyond them.
This paper engages Goethe's studies in the natural sciences, especially his morphology, and the fundamental role that the concept of archetype (Urphänomen) plays therein. While recent scholarship focuses on the influence of Spinoza’s or Kant’s philosophy on Goethe, like Robert J. Richards (2002), and others, like Eckart Förster (2009/10; 2012) and De Laurentiis (2000; 2021), have underscored the mutual influence of Goethe and other key German contemporaries, like Hegel or Schelling, I contend alternatively, and on the model of Karl Löwith (1964), that it is important to acknowledge Goethe’s fundamental philosophical problems on their own terms. I argue that the defining motivation for Goethe’s natural scientific inquiry is the knowledge of human spirit but that the notion of an ‘archetype’ of the human fails in this crucial aspect, due to the inherent arbitrariness and undecidability of human history; and I read this as a productive contradiction.
Background. This paper explores the relevance of Kantian aesthetics, specifically his concept of the sublime, in the context of contemporary urban experience in Ukraine, particularly amidst the ongoing war. It examines how modern aesthetics engage with Kant's ideas, with some rejecting the applicability of his notions on beauty, the sublime, and aesthetic judgment, while others affirm their importance for understanding contemporary urban experiences. Methods. The study employs a comparative and analytical methodology, examining Kantian aesthetics in relation to contemporary aesthetic theories, particularly in everyday and urban contexts. It integrates philosophical analysis, historical contextualization, and theoretical classification, engaging with key thinkers such as Kant, Hegel, Dewey, Berleant, Saito, Leddy, and Kvokačka to explore shifts in aesthetic discourse and the relevance of Kantian categories in modern aesthetic experiences. Results. The discussion highlights the contradiction inherent in the experience of the modern city, where the Kantian sublime–a concept traditionally associated with reflection and disinterested pleasure–can still be relevant, but often in a transformed or "negative" form. This is especially notable in the context of urban environments that are undergoing rapid changes due to technological advancements and social upheaval. The emergence of the "negative sublime" concept is explored as a way to describe the urban experience of modern city dwellers who, due to the chaos and overwhelming nature of their environment, may be unable to feel the traditional sense of the sublime. The author situates this discussion within the specific context of contemporary Ukrainian cities, where the ongoing war and the imposition of martial law dramatically shape daily life. The concept of the sublime is argued to be especially relevant in the analysis of grassroots commemorative practices, such as spontaneous memorials that emerge in response to war. These memorials, while ephemeral and often improvised, offer a form of aesthetic experience that resonates with Kant's notion of the sublime–emphasizing reflective judgment and negative pleasure as people engage with public spaces marked by loss and trauma. Conclusions. Ultimately, the paper advocates for the continued use of the Kantian sublime in understanding the emotional and aesthetic impacts of the modern urban environment, particularly in the context of war and collective memory in Ukraine.
The paper begins by disclosing untranslatability not as a given fact, but as a consequence resulting from a certain epistemological attitude towards the work of art. A subjectivist outlook towards art and translation encounters the work in its thingness that eventually resists its reification. Taking cue from the insights of phenomenological thinkers like Husserl, Heidegger, and Ricoeur, this paper seeks to elaborate on the etymology and ontology of the thing while distinguishing it from the notions of aesthetic object and selfhood that have percolated through time since Kant. Thereafter, the approach to the thing as the hermeneutic event of projection is shown as the crucial break from subjectivity, one that leads to a fresh understanding of the literary experience in terms of becoming. This shift absolves untranslatability from the negative connotations of hindrance, and the irreducible otherness of the thing becomes instead the sole enabling condition of the infinitude of our engagement with it. Communication and conversation as modes of being liberate the thing from the delusional specter of untranslatability, shifting translation from being an act of transfer of identity towards a movement generating difference.
Prior scholarship characterizes awe as an aesthetic emotion, and the rich and growing aesthetics literature can help illuminate the role of awe in consumer psychology. The current commentary draws on this literature, as well as Keltner's conceptual analysis of awe, to highlight findings and remaining questions pertaining to awe in the realm of consumption. Marketing activities such as branding and promotion, store design, and product development present opportunities to awe consumers, yet awesome consumption experiences are rare. The current work discusses characteristics of awe‐inspiring products and brands, the tendency of awe to increase or decrease consumption, relevant individual differences between consumers, and the nature and evolutionary background of awe and aesthetics.
A commonplace criticism of Michel Henry’s phenomenology of life is that it denies that the subject’s existence in the world is of any importance to life’s flourishing. Henry’s phenomenological study of art and aesthetics, including his study of the work of Russian art-theorist and painter Wassily Kandinsky, has typically been understood as reinforcing this very position. This paper will argue that those who critique Henry's study of art, and indeed his phenomenology more generally, on these grounds are both right and yet mistaken. They are right in that the flourishing of absolute life does not depend on the subject’s worldly existence. However, they are mistaken in that from the point of view of human beings, the finite subject’s existence in the world, particularly her engagement with the arts, does play a part in the well-being of their life. In support of this position, I will argue that Henry’s study of art and aesthetics reveals that our worldly relationship with art plays a role in educating our feelings, and that this education is vital to the flourishing of the life of finite living beings. Our engagement with art does this, as I will show, by enhancing our attunement to ourselves, others, life, and the world, and in allowing us to experience and understand the world as an expression of life, and as therefore being important to us personally. As further testament to the importance of our worldly engagement with art for life, I will show how, in Henry’s view, our worldly engagement with bad art plays a part in the corruption of life and thereby stunts our emotional growth and leads us to feel increasingly alienated from the world.
Kant’s philosophy of history is one of the best examples to trace the remains of certain theological concepts that emerged during the Christian tradition, which are secularized in order to shape a philosophical history. This process of secularization involves hidden causes through the weakening of the doctrinal truths of Christianism. These threats come from two antithetical poles whose attempts to demolish the Christian faith have been noticeable since its beginnings: Gnosticism and Ebionism. This article seeks to trace the influence of both doctrines in Kant’s philosophy of history. Based on his reinterpretation of certain theological concepts, it offers an adequate frame to understand the backgrounds that sustain Kant’s hope when regarding history. His great hesitation between an ultimate, intra-historical consummation and an infinite aspiration never fulfilled on Earth can be explained well from the opposite Ebionite and Gnostic perspectives. In conclusion, the article proposes that the tension that inspires Kant’s philosophy of history emerges from an unstable synthesis between Gnosticism and Ebionism.
У статті досліджується історія філософського осмислення модусу гри як фундаментальної категорії в філософії. В тексті поетапно викладено підходи до трактування феномена гри починаючи з античності, і завершуючи постмодерном.Перша частина роботи присвячено короткому аналізу розуміння гри до XVIII століття, тобто періоду, в якому гра не виступала в ролі повноцінного об’єкта досліджень. Тут окрему увагу приділено ігровому аспекту у філософії Арістотеля, який бачив гру як метод виховання, та Платона, котрий виводячи онтологію гри, трактував її як міст між ейдосами та матеріальним світом, метафорично порівнюючи людське життя з театральною грою, що обмежена космічним сценарієм. Зазначається також другорядний статус гри як філософського концепту в богослів’ї Середньовіччя, проте чільне місце гри як практики в середньовічній культурі. У статті відзначається відродження філософського інтересу до гри у німецькій класичній філософії, де з’являються естетичні концепції гри та поняття «гри пізнання». Зокрема Кант вважав гру необхідною частиною естетичної здатності людини, що дозволяє досягти гармонії між уявою та розумом, тоді як Шиллер розглядав гру як засіб досягнення свободи та творчого самовираження (Kant, 1790). У ХХ столітті ці ідеї були розвинуті Йоганом Гейзингою, який визначив гру як першопричину культури, підкреслюючи її свободу, символічний характер і відмінність від буденної реальності. Гейзинга також звертається до «магічного кола гри», в якому людина приймає нові ролі та правила, що не мають наслідків поза цим колом. Стаття завершується оглядом основних ігрових концепцій в постмодерністській філософії, зокрема авторка звертається до напрацювань Ролана Барта, Жака Дерріди, Жана Ліотара, Мішель Фуко та інших. Крізь призму філософських концепцій означених авторів констатується нове розуміння феномену гри, що в дискурсі постмодерну стверджує гру як стратегію існування, інструмент для критики метанаративів і руйнування традиційних ієрархій.
The event of meaning making in fine art studio pedagogy is explored in this paper through the enquiry into the practice of critique (colloquially known as ‘crit’). It will seek to understand the role of consensus (in the Kantian sense) and judgement in formative group critique feedback exchanges and how these concepts interplay with the concept of dissensus as developed by Rancière. It argues that joint inquiry into what an artwork does within a specific context provides insights into the creation of meaning for the developing artist as an individual and within a learning community.
The approach is relevant to explore some specific perspectives on the poetry by giving close reading to the poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud as well as looking at the poem historical backdrop. Each theoretical method enables us to notice aspects of the poem that we might otherwise overlook. The first interpretive lens, and the one that will be focused on this poem, is to examine the poem in relation to Immanuel Kant and Edmund Burke"s aesthetic views. Wordsworth, a key figure in Romantic literature, expresses Romantic Aesthetics through a deep connection with Nature, emphasizing emotions, imagination, and individual experience. This article aims at investigating the beautiful and the sublime according to Kantian and Burkean concepts of Aesthetics. The initial findings reveal that Wordsworth celebrates the beautiful and the sublime in the poem. Wordsworth believes in the transformative power of Nature to evoke profound emotions and inspire a sense of awe, reflecting the romantic emphasis on the subjective and emotional aspects of human experience. This research is qualitative. Wordsworth"s poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is the first source of data collection. Books and research articles are secondary sources of data collection. Research approach is inductive. This poem can further be analysed from the perspectives of other philosophers of Romantic Aesthetics.
For economists, the job of artists is to embody creativity in their works of art. In fact, a recent handbook on cultural economics states that the concept of creativity seems to be, at the very least, a hallmark or characteristic feature of art generally, if not a necessary condition of artistic practice (Borowiecki, 2020). However, Creativity as Art is more a 20th-century biased definition of Art, because from the ancient Greeks to at least the 19 th century, Art was valued for its Beauty, according to Philosopher's records. This paper carries out several choice and ranking experiments. Experimental subjects are asked to grade and rank paintings according to their perceived Beauty, Creativity, Complexity, Novelty, Interestingness and Expensiveness and then asked to choose among the paintings. The paper finds that the individual's preferences for Art can be represented by a simple linear combination of the individual's perception of Beauty and Creativity in Art. This may potentially explain the shift from Beauty to Creativity in 20 th century Art for the artist's sake of novelty and transcendence in the History of Art.
A análise kantiana do juízo do belo nos deixou com um sentimento incrível, uma forma de experiência que, sendo universal e a priori, é ao mesmo tempo não conceitual e singular em relação às formas transcendentais. Pretendo revitalizar essa forma única de experiência e argumentar que, para Kant, seu caráter não conceitual não implica que seu objeto seja ideal. Em vez disso, o argumento de Kant abre caminho para uma forma de experiência, de intuição, de estruturas transcendentais formais da realidade. Acredito que isso seja uma boa notícia para qualquer metafísica em busca de uma possível epistemologia da modalidade do mundo.
Hermeneutik akımının temsilcilerinden Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002), geliştirdiği hermeneutik yöntemle insan bilimlerinin temellendirme çabalarına katkıda bulunmuştur. Gadamer, Hakikat ve Yöntem ile Güzelliğin Güncelliği adlı eserlerinde sanatta anlam ve meşruiyet sorununu ele alır. Bu çalışmalarında kavramsal olarak oyun, sembol ve festival kavram üçlemesiyle geliştirdiği anlayış ile sanatın tarihsel sürekliğine ilişkin bir temellendirmeye girişir. Gadamer, bu üç kavramın klasik sanat geleneği ile modern sanatın birliğini sağlayan insan deneyimlerinin antropolojik kökenlerine yönelik bilgiler sunduğu görüşündedir. Gadamer’in bu iddiası, sanatın doğasına ilişkin ontolojik bir temellendirme yerleştirdiği gibi, insan deneyimlerinin antropolojik miras taşıdığına dair bir fikir de ortaya koyar. Bu kavramsal bağlam, ilkel toplumlarla modern insan arasındaki sürekliliğe dair düşünceler sunması bakımından önemlidir. Gadamer oyun, sembol ve festival kavramlarını, insanın en eski deneyimlerini günümüze taşıyan davranış biçimleri şeklinde tanımlar. Tıpkı bu üç kavramın zamanla biçim değiştirmesi gibi sanat da günümüzde biçimsel olarak değişmiştir. Gadamer, sanatı da insan bilimlerinin yöntemlerine göre ele alarak, anlam ve meşruiyet sorununu, kültürel bağlamların bir onayı şeklinde sunar. Gadamer’in insan bilimlerini anlamaya ve araştırmaya yönelik arayışı, insan bilimlerinin evrimi üzerinde modern kültürün etkisinin ve hümanizm mirasının bazı temel unsurlarının korunduğuna ilişkin olguyu çözümlemeye götürür. Makale içerik olarak bu bağlamı sanatta anlam ve meşruiyet sorunu çerçevesinde ele almaktadır. Bu bakımdan öncelikle modern sanat akımlarının ortaya çıkış hikâyesine yer verilmiş ve sonrasında sanatın meşruiyet sorunu şeklinde ifade edilen tartışmalara nasıl dönüştüğü ele alınmıştır. Ortaya konulan bakış açısının odağına Gadamer’in sanata dair düşünceleri yerleştirilmiştir.
This book offers a sustained scholarly analysis of Gadamer's reflections on art and our experience of art. It examines fundamental themes in Gadamer's hermeneutical aesthetics such as play, festival, symbol, contemporaneity, enactment, art's performative ontology, and hermeneutical identity.
This article outlines an epistemological perspective to understand the organism as a temporally changing whole. To analyze the mental faculties involved, the organism’s development and persisting existence is differentiated into four interdependent aspects: descent, future existence, persistent species, and environmentally adapted physical appearance. It is outlined that these aspects are recognized by comparative memory, concept-guided anticipation, conceptual thinking, and sensory perception, respectively. Furthermore, it is pointed out that these aspects correspond to the famous four Aristotelian “causes” or principles of explanation. The descent of an organism corresponds to Aristotle’s efficient principle (“where does it come from?”), its future existence to the final principle (“what is if for?”), its physical structure to the material principle (“out of what is it?”) and its persistent species to the formal principle (“what is it?”). Aristotle regarded the unity of the efficient, formal and final principle as the ontological cause of the organism and called it the “soul” (psyche), while the material principle can be understood to represent its “body” (soma). I suggest that Aristotle’s “soul” corresponds to three of the four mental faculties required for cognition of a self-maintaining organism. I argue that in a Kantian perspective, the Aristotelian “soul” represents the condition of the possibility of recognizing an organism at all. Therefore, the Aristotelian principle of life becomes intelligible and even empirically observable through the inner sense. In summary, I suggest that the four aspects of the organism described here can be viewed as the general, epistemological and ontological principle of the organism, the Bio-Logos.
This paper examines Neoclassical architecture, with special attention to some Neoclassical houses in Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece, with a view to articulating the spatio-temporal implications of its characteristic spatial modulations. It is argued that, as the epithet, "Neoclassical", suggests, its emphasis on geometric forms of a certain kind instantiates an assault on time, and concomitantly an attempt to escape from time's ravages, in contrast with different kinds of architecture, for example that of the Black Forest farmhouse discussed by Heidegger, which embraces time and mortality. The latter is accommodated by Heidegger's notion of "the fourfold"-earth, sky, mortals and divinities and the purpose of this article is to show that, in the light of Karsten Harries's related interpretation of Neoclassical architecture, it fails to provide human beings with the orienting compass embodied by "the fourfold", except in instances where telltale deviations from Neoclassical principles occur. The work of Harries on Neoclassical architecture serves as a valuable guide and backdrop for the interpretation of selected Neoclassical houses in Mytilene. Harries traces the significance of Neoclassical buildings to the funerary and monumental architecture of antiquity, demonstrating that the secular Enlightenment found in these instances suitable models for an architecture that would no longer locate assurances of immortality in Gothic or Baroque church architecture, with its emphasis on verticality. Instead, it would look for a different kind of assurance in the face of the terror of time and death-that provided by the emphasis on a balance between verticality, horizontality and sublime monumentality of Neoclassical architecture, which promises the individual reassuring participation in a greater totality, such as the nation, or even a universal community beyond this. This analysis is brought to bear on some Neoclassical houses in Mytilene, but not without attention to some revealing deviations from the paradigmatic rules-deviations which show the reassertion of humanising temporal values.
This research conducts a comprehensive examination of humor through a cognitive, pragmatic, and sociocultural lens. Guided by a theoretical framework integrating Relevance Theory, Incongruity Theory, and Script-based Semantic Theory, the study employs a mixed-methods approach including online survey as well as collection of facts from already published articles. All the mentioned theories are interrelated as they provide a multifaceted exploration of humor's cognitive processes, pragmatic elements, and sociocultural influences. The participant sample for this research is 80 students of National University of Modern Languages, Faisalabad. Ethical considerations underscore the commitment to respectful research practices. The findings revealed that humor is a pervasive element in Faisalabadi daily life, predominantly manifested through verbal, visual, and situational forms. Notably, preferences for sarcasm and irony were prevalent, though individual responses varied, highlighting the influence of personal cognitive differences. The findings also underscored the Exploring Desirability and Feasibility of Learner Autonomy.. . LinFo www.linguisticforum.com 17 Linguistic Forum 6(1), 2024 embedded nature of humor within cultural norms and its complex roles in communication. The study reveals that humor in Faisalabadi society is deeply influenced by cultural contexts and individual cognitive differences, serving as a dynamic tool for social interaction and cultural understanding.
This is our Editorial for the Special Issue "From Sound to Soul" of Mind and Matter 22(2)
Media plays a crucial role in the portrayal of ideal beauty standards. Research has shown that social media’s influence on conveying body ideals is greater today than that of broadcast media. Online interactions with beauty content can contribute to the appreciation of one’s internal and external features. However, these interactions can also lead to sexual objectification, appearance comparisons, and body image concerns. This study sought to investigate the emerging themes of beauty studies on social media and the potential areas of study that require scholarly attention. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify studies on beauty in social media published between January 2015 and May 2023 in two databases: Scopus and Web of Science. A thematic analysis of 32 articles established the following emerging themes: body positivity, negative effects of social media, activism, makeup, and advertising. Opportunities for areas that require scholarly attention include culture and religion, gender, longitudinal studies and experiments, the need for more representative samples, and the study of diverse social media platforms. The limitation of this study is that this subject area is still growing, and articles that had not been published at the time of data collection were not included in the current study.
It is a general assumption in literature that politics and aesthetics do not go hand in hand. The dominance of Kant's ideas about aesthetics that give precedence to beauty and pleasure as against aesthetic value have historically contributed in the segregation of political and aesthetic where aesthetics is a disinterested judgement and politics is rational. This has relegated aesthetic theory as a bête noire in postcolonial discourse considering that Postcolonialism has strong political investment because of its engagement with empire. This paper by discussing the ideas of various philosophers and literary critics like Jacques
Ranciere, Adam Chmielewski, Aukje van Rooden, Bill Ashcroft and Terry Eagleton has pointed out that aesthetic theory had political undercurrents from the start and its disconnect from political has detrimentally divorced art from social engagement that could prove fatal for the survival of literature. It also discusses the often neglected theories of Rasa and Dhvani to highlight the rich aesthetic tradition of India. After making a diachronic examination of various national and global theories on aesthetics a postcolonial and political paradigm is presented that can be used to understand Indian English literature in general, and
Indian English novel in particular, as simultaneously political and aesthetic.
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