Analysis Of Immanuel Kant's Critique Of The Sublime

The question of beauty has been asked since the beginning of time and yet there is still no precise answer. When discussing this same question and applying it to works of art a number of answers could be as large as the population. Henri Matisse and Francis Bacon have both inspired artists for generations and are considered to be opposite sides of the coin. Matisse created paintings with bright, happy colors mixing in patterns and showed life as it was viewed from the outside, leading to the idea that he created pretty paintings. On the other hand, Bacon produced intense paintings which included rich, dark colors that expressed the agony that can only be viewed from within oneself. When the viewer immerses themselves in both styles of painting it will be clear that art does not need to “be pretty”.

What really determines something to be beautiful. In Lucy Grealy’s narrative, “Mirrors”, she describes her journey of finding her own idea of beauty. As a child she had cancer in her face so she had surgery to remove but it caused her face to be deformed. Consequently, she was bullied because of the way she looked, which caused her self esteem to lower immensely. As a result, she had undergone many surgeries and even went as far as to travel to another country to try and fix her face. Therefore, as she gets older she not only alters herself physically but mentally. She finally realizes that how people see us should not influence how we view ourselves not only physically but mentally as well. So she decides to never look at a mirror because she feels she does not have to to know what she looks like anymore. She finally accepted the way she looks and started focussing on her personal well being and recognizes that's what is actually important. Society has a critical impact on the way we see ourselves because of the way social media shows us that we should look a certain way, people telling us we should look a certain way, your negative thoughts about how you look, and how society determines your value based on looks.

“Serious violations of our duty towards ourselves produce an aversion accompanied either by horror or by disgust; suicide is of the horrible, Crimina Carnis of the disgusting” (Kant, 300). In the philosophical argument- pertaining to suicide- entitled “Suicide and Duty” by Immanuel Kant, Kant defines and argues the immorality of suicide. Labelling suicide a kind of ‘Crimina Carnis” (300)- ‘Crimina’ “of/pertaining to a crime” (Latin Dict.) and ‘Carnis’ which is related to the flesh, Kant avows that every living thing- even an injured tree in nature- seeks some sort of preservation (300); thus deeming suicide immoral.

Kant elucidate the meaning of human good by talking about three qualities: power, pleasure and dignity. By reading each of the philosopher’s text individually, the reader is able to recognize which quality is most imperative to each philosopher. Additionally, each philosopher illuminates the importance of that certain good and provides a feasible reason for their choosing by presenting general ideas that enables the reader to gain a meticulous understanding of their subjective meaning of each good and its importance.

Through his discussion of morals in the Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant explores the question of whether a human being is capable of acting solely out of pure duty and if our actions hold true moral value. In passage 407, page 19, Kant proposes that if one were to look at past experiences, one cannot be certain that his or her rationalization for performing an action that conforms with duty could rest solely on moral grounds. In order to fully explain the core principle of moral theory, Kant distinguishes between key notions such as a priori and a posteriori, and hypothetical imperative vs. categorical imperative, in order to argue whether the actions of rational beings are actually moral or if they are only moral

Kant argues that beauty is symbolic of morality. Werner S. Pluhar states, “Only man is capable of an ideal of beauty, and the ideal involves the concept of man’s

Aesthetics is defined as “the branch of philosophy dealing with such notions as the beautiful,the ugly, the sublime, the comic, etc., as applicable to the fine arts,with a view to establishing the meaning and validity of critical judgments concerning works of art, and the principles underlying or justifying such judgments”(Webster.) It is closely related to the philosophy of art, which determines how individual works are interpreted. Aesthetics not only examine the nature and value of art, but also examine the reaction that an individual or group has to such arts. As previously mentioned aesthetics is the philosophical study of beauty and taste, the attractive and the none, the beautiful and the ugly. It can be difficult to categorize and match objects and expressions into those two broad categories because it is possible for one to observe aesthetics from different angles.

Beauty is constantly changing to fit every person, every situation, every possible rendition that could ever be thought of. Yes, the girl with legs that go for miles is a pleasant thing to look at, but once she opens her mouth her face seems less important. How is that beauty if she brings nothing but ugly into the world? No one considers the so called "loner" at the back of the classroom, who at best would be rated a four, beautiful, though every night they are up talking their friend out of suicide because the blonde told them they are meaningless. Building others up while you feel like you are falling, is beautiful. Lipstick and eyeliner is not

In his publication, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant supplies his readers with a thesis that claims morality can be derived from the principle of the categorical imperative. The strongest argument to support his thesis is the difference between actions in accordance with duty and actions in accordance from duty. To setup his thesis, Kant first draws a distinction between empirical and “a priori” concepts. Empirical concepts are ideas we reach from our experiences in the world. On the other hand and in contrast, “a priori” concepts are ideas we reach as an end point of reasoning prior to or apart from any experience of how things occur in the world. Kant

In Plato’s, The Symposium, there are a multitude of things that get discussed amongst the group of men, one of those theories being the idea of beauty. To truly understand what Plato thinks about beauty, you have to understand his idea of forms, and the Form of Beauty. He describes this as an “everlasting loveliness which never comes nor goes, which neither flowers nor fades”. The essence to understanding this form, is that we can realize all beautiful things share the Form of Beauty. But only in their involvement with this form that they become beautiful. It is an unchanging, absolute, and immortal form that cannot admit to anything less. The form itself is not ugly or offensive, or it would cease to exist in the “form”.

Plotinus begins by asking his audience to consider what beauty is. He offers the example of some things being beautiful by “the nature of the objects themselves,” and something instead are beautiful “by participation,” such as being virtuous (Plotinus 1). He prompts the audience to ask themselves whether beauty is sensory- since one may see or hear things they consider beautiful, what catches the attention of someone ultimately leading to a feeling of attraction to certain things (Plotinus 1)?

The two poems, “She Complains about Her Fate: She Asserts Her Aversion to Vices and Justifies Her Pleasure in the Muses” and “A Good Face One Should Choose before Dying Rather Than to Expose Oneself to the Outrages of Old Age,” by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz both discuss the topic of beauty. Interestingly, the writer of both approach the subject from two different perspectives. They have similarities, both focusing on the fact that beauty is not everything, but one is viewed in comparison to intellect while the other focuses on the lasting nature of beauty.

The ascetic representation of the sublime throughout history has been in reference to grand or imposing landscapes and their relationship between humans and the Gods that created these landscapes. Throughout this paper, I have further investigated this overarching theory behind the ascetic sublime in hopes to deriving any similarities and differences to this theory throughout the evolution of art and philosophical ideologies. My research presents itself chronologically, so I begin with the sublime relations during the Renaissance period (15th – 16th century), this era then filters into the Baroque period the art of the sublime is considered a very pivotal assemblage in the artwork and philosophical ideologies that were expressed through various works during this time period. Lastly, I briefly delve into the Romanticism period, which does continue past the 1800s

Immanuel Kant describes how beauty and sublimity counteract each other and the difference between the two. He notes that while beauty, and its experience, gives a passive emotion sublimity emits an emotion of gander. This emotion makes one realize how marginal they are in comparison to the object they are viewing, thus giving them perspective into the world. This creates an active experience. Into this idea he creates two subsections of sublime: mathematically and dynamically.

Burke’s examination of all seven qualities of the sublime relates to sight: terror, power, vastness, infinity, succession and uniformity relates to what can be seen, while obscurity relates to what cannot be seen. In addition to the content of his writing, Burke’s use of language and diction, for example, with words and phrases like “[l]ook” (Burke 5) and “[w]ithout all doubt” (3) (which implies clarity) also reinforces the element of ‘sight’ in his text. For Burke, the power of the sublime object or landscape lies in its ability to overwhelm the viewer’s mental faculties and impose upon them feelings of the sublime. Here, the viewer is positioned as a subject upon which the sublime landscape impresses its image and sublimity, rather than one that is actively participating in the creation of this sublime experience. This passivity is highlighted by Burke who states that the sublime requires some form of mediation of “distance” (4) and remoteness. Following the explication of the observer’s passive role in the sublime experience, this essay will move on to affirm the subordinate