Immanuel Kant's Third Critique: Applying the Aesthetic Lens

Abstract

The following examines in greater detail and considers the potential of Immanuel Kant’s theories of aesthetic judgement—with special interest in his theory of the sublime—to provide answers to several questions that become apparent upon further inspection of contemporary scholarship on the subject. Primary to this discussion is the question of the potential value held by the aesthetic experience for the contemporary question of representation, and the construction of meaning. While the longstanding debate regarding the validity of Kant’s ideas is understandably relevant to the study of Kant’s work, this project does not seek to offer support to or to dispute the quality of the arguments laid down by Kant. Instead, it intends to provide the context and understanding necessary to position Kant’s ideas in the framework of contemporary studies in the Humanities in general, and, more specifically, to make a case for their utility in the analysis of the aesthetic experience in creative work.