Women’s intellectual and moral predispositions in Kant’s observations on the feeling of the beautiful and sublime

In contemporary interpretations of Kant?s philosophy, it is widely accepted that Kant considered women to be intellectually and morally inferior to men by nature. This paper challenges that interpretation, with a particular focus on contentious claims in Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime, a popular-philosophical and entertaining text. The analysis shows that, although Kant considers women?s nature different from men?s, he does not question their cognitive abilities; rather, he problematizes their engagement in demanding intellectual activity in light of his teleological understanding of sexual differences and complementary social roles. Similarly, Kant does not deny women the capacity for moral action, but holds that their actions possess legality rather than moral worth ? which, as he points out, is true for most people of both sexes. This article contributes to a more precise understanding of Kant?s views on women by showing that his remarks on sex differences reflect his personal as well as the social and philosophical assumptions of the eighteenth century, rather than an inherent critique of women?s natural capacities.