Kant's Justified Dismissal of Artistic Sublimity

One curious point in Immanuel Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment is that, although the general exposition of Kant's aesthetic theory appears to be constructed on structurally parallel accounts of two basic aesthetic predicates, the beautiful and the sublime, in their possible applications to two basic sources of objects of aesthetic experience, nature and art, Kant almost entirely dismisses one of the combinations that would be expected from his dual treatment of aesthetics, namely artistic sublimity.1 It is a fairly common contention among the readers of the Critique that Kant, because of his morally oriented ambitions in aesthetics and the moral significance he attaches to nature rather than art, prioritizes nature over art and takes nature as the field of pure, paradigm cases in his analytics of the beautiful and of the sublime. However, the mentioned dismissal is still curious, since Kant devotes a considerable portion of the book, from §43 to §55, to account for art's place in his aesthetic theory and the application of judgments of beauty to works of art. What makes the absence of any account of artistic sublimity even more curious is that Kant never explicitly rules out its possibility. On the contrary, he seems to acknowledge that works of art can also be called sublime by giving examples from architecture and various genres of literature. In what follows, my aim is to answer the question of whether there really is a room for a subtheory of artistic sublimity in Kant's overall theory of aesthetics, the answer to which will also help us in understanding whether his curious dismissal is a trivial or a theoretically justified one. I will argue that Kant's conceptions of sublimity and art are established with diverse concerns in his mind, the former as natural sublimity, the latter as beautiful art, so that the most we can get from the Critique is impure, restricted, and still problematic cases of artistic sublimity, but by no means a coherent theory. Here I hold that a coherent Kantian theory of artistic sublimity would have to be able not merely to demonstrate the applicability of the predicate ‘sublime’ to works of art, but also to aesthetic to sublime works of art in of judgments of sublimity, as a of aesthetic Kant in his exposition of the natural sublime. I will argue that, although there be various in which sublimity can be of works of art, of can be as of a of are works in on the Critique that the sublimity and a general of Kant's of the sublime and of his of art with to what I to be for a Kantian theory of artistic sublimity, I will of to what is to be by Kant and to what in the I I will with my the most we can In the of the of the that judgments of sublimity and judgments of beauty are two of aesthetic the of with to the of the of Kant the two with one that can be as the beautiful is a to the of which in its the sublime to be in a as is in or its and is also as a In the beautiful the with the understanding by a in the sublime with In the beautiful the is with the of in the sublime with that of of the beautiful the in the of the sublime a in the the former is a of the latter is a rather of and by the to be called beauty with a in its that as the is for of What in us the of the sublime, in its to be that as the is to to is the most one for since the of for sublimity for works of art. What Kant is not so to of and be to the of to which we Kant seems to that sublimity is to be to the means in and the as that the sublime can be but not in on the is as as the is but to Kant's Kant not objects no in is the for to be one will be what the sublime is rather to in to the of What Kant means is that the sublime is in is so or for of to as a that in us the of is in the or of the on the of the is also with the of the even to be to the as its is to the of the not works of art or objects that have from called sublime. are two to be mentioned in the of exposition of the sublime. is by the sublime in objects of nature in art to the of with of can be as a that the sublime can also be in art. the seems to us account of artistic sublimity, the expected a that Kant will never us that the account of the sublime is of natural the that the sublime in art is a even what of with means I that the and the my overall that the account of the sublime we have in the Critique is with a of natural sublimity in Kant's mind, and that the most we can get from is a of to be mentioned is a by his the of the of Kant that he will his exposition of the sublime, us for his in that judgments of sublimity not a in to their on the we of nature sublime, although we can of can no more than that the for the of a sublimity that can be in the for what is sublime be in any the by be called sublime. is since Kant makes a the of beauty It is as Kant to the predicate ‘sublime’ by with the predicate its can still be to can be on the point and in a of beauty the predicate is to the of the in a of sublimity ‘sublime’ is of the as its in us a of is to the of the a and in the latter for the question of can be in art, the question that to is whether Kant the judgments of sublimity or the the sublime and art. One of would be that what is sublime is in the rather than the there is no for natural and artistic of the predicate ‘sublime’ would to of seems to be a but the of objects of judgments of sublimity in from the to which the of the I will argue that is that that which the of the sublime its Kant's account of the sublime on the and two of the that are in and aesthetic of the of is of the in a of of a of on the is a that to the of as in a by with the with the of the of the can in any that a by a of and as as for the for aesthetic is to a of is no with because can on to but more the and its namely the basic for the of so that the of the of the that to in the as the latter on to the of on one as as on the and there is in the a point which since the of the sublime is by the its aesthetic and to the is to what of objects can a the of the on the point of the can a of in the to the to in a a with of can also a of are that not natural and artistic of his the examples Kant are the in and in However, to the of Kant the to the aesthetic is to be with as judgments of and of that is to be which is for the of the aesthetic of the sublime not be in of art a the as as the in natural with a of a natural but rather in nature even in as by with from merely as on the sublime, have no of the as its is to be aesthetic and not with any of the understanding or of Kant's in the of the is to judgments of sublimity in their in that he a and judgments of he seems to is that in cases the of sublimity is merely on the of the in cases that the and the of the are in the of the In works of art, be the the of the or even in natural is the of the that what of is to In the in its However, in the of the not any in its is or even as is as One whether works of art can be as rather than as objects that their in and be what Kant in giving examples from architecture for the sublime. as will be to Kant, is not the we works of art In any examples be as for a Kantian of artistic In the of the art can a of What of is and what Kant to on I will to to the of as the a of the of of even the of the that there is in the mind, which is the of for in the of and any even nature as a of in the mind, in a of what is sublime is not any of but the which Kant in the on the sublime is we the the of of and the of of In a in of on the sublime the is the of over and the of the former from the and of the to can be to also to the of nature as the of of the or objects of nature in there for the in the of the in us over In a and of a of as that the of its to the of and in the of by that of the and of for the of any or and the of and even in their are what the judgments of sublimity in Kant's overall of aesthetic In the of the sublime, the on the of and on the of the from Kant's in the sublime the is and moral from in aesthetic as a that no over and in the of the sublime a parallel to that of the sublime. It is a dual of the of as natural to the of on the one and of the of a in us of on the In Kant's is for as of and a over nature on which is a of than that which can be and by nature the in even the to that is and what be by the of nature is moral and nature in the sublime the is the natural of is to the of for is trivial the of However, nature no over the moral of since is of as moral can to to in with moral even in the of the of nature and even to and in of the on the sublime, a of moral from nature and is as a for Kant, makes the sublime a but a of than the beautiful It that his account of the judgments of sublimity, Kant nature in as one of the of In the sublime and in the sublime moral from nature are theory of sublimity is aesthetic of the and the and nature and is in its in mind, we can the judgments on the sublime, to nature in its to nature in the of the sublime and seems to a for artistic On the because of and of nature as a in the and because in is a which the of the sublime and to which we sublimity with a also seems as not have to be It the in which the the of the sublime, not the of the that makes the on the sublime aesthetic that I the and in which a the for the of and the even in their any theory of artistic sublimity also us that a of art can in the a natural In I will two general of Kant's of art that works of art from cases of the of artistic and the of the by its and the of art as is in Kant's general the aesthetic of works of In a of art one be that is art, and not the in its still to be as from by rules as a of the and art can be called beautiful we that is art and to us the in the of beautiful art, although is not Here Kant two for as a of art. is that in for us to aesthetic a of art, we the that is a of art. in the that is a of from various possible of the there are two general in which any of art is for is in any of art is to in its and its any of is to be a and not is to the of the in the is the of what the of the is to for the for the aesthetic of art, Kant that, in the of beauty in nature we not to or have a of of the is to in the of artistic beauty of the in of the of the with the also have to be However, the seems to that a of art, is to be called be us not any but the of is a natural and not a of to coherent of two is a of and the of for that the that the of the of art is by a one of Kant's for the applicability of judgments of sublimity to works of art I the to be for for artistic sublimity in Kant's theory of the sublime that the latter with the of natural objects in Kant's of in Kant's theory of art is that is almost beautiful art from the general that Kant for beauty of nature is a beautiful the beauty of art is a beautiful of a Kant's is that art, by its what is to be so that us as beautiful even what is is not beautiful or in art its by that which in nature would be or of and the as be is a on art, is to be called sublime because of the even what is is in that we to sublime, art Kant, not the examples of or are of the examples he for sublime in and the and also that the artistic of even the sublime be In Kant the of beautiful in one and the he of the sublime so as to beautiful art, can be with beauty in a a and in combinations beautiful art is the more although whether is also more beautiful can be in of in beautiful art what is in the which is for and artistic of the sublime is possible and makes the even more but not the that beautiful art is beautiful and that aesthetic on on the beauty of its Kant the more explicitly in the a of the of the sublime that is to the one in the Kant sublime is the but not the of the because the and to to a of the in the a of his and but the of the sublime in by or can and be which from as of one sublime, is not of but a of the artistic of the sublime in and be and to be since would be and to is to the sublime in is sublime because the of its to a of the of the but is in art rather than the would merely and to Kant not and as to would have to be However, is to be that as a in by the of the artistic of the sublime, Kant that art to aim and and that the or of beautiful of the sublime is to in rather than in sublimity, Kant also be to that the artistic of even of the sublime, be by means of the of that by means of a of one to to Kant, can still be from his account of artistic of the sublime that the that the in art is can called sublime in not that aesthetic to that be a of and the of the sublime in art is to with I have to the or that Kant's general understanding of art for account of artistic I will the two of Kant's general theory of art, that of and aesthetic as will be as account of artistic In is art is art of Kant nature art, the which he to be a that be by any is the that the to art. the as of the to also be is the of the which nature to art. Here the natural and artistic objects that Kant is that to Kant as of artistic not merely a of nature but is still art is a beautiful of or a is the which nature to the in which that can be point Kant's that the of a of art is by a that although the and are in the of art, is still nature and not any or that, the in which will be aesthetic to art is a which on the of the and the Kant more the by a of beautiful art in his theory of aesthetic aesthetic Kant means of the that possible for any to be which no or can that is the of of which is a to which no of can be What makes of is the that be in any Kant, that is the for to that which is not by any and to that which is aesthetic in the most is the which a of is the of art as its and in a of can and so that the in its which can be in in experience, that be by any aesthetic even there is a of the understanding to of in aesthetic the its and the with the in that aesthetic so that its no any or by any the the to more than the of its the to more than its and so although is not what Kant means by or to of we can that aesthetic by the with its makes the of the is one the to aesthetic in would of for in his the of by as aesthetic the of with from the to the most which is by a of that in from the of and the of and to the of be as a what Kant the the and the of the in to the the and the as the the are by Kant to the of that we in aesthetic to works of in of what so I will a general of of the a Kantian theory of artistic In the one of a theory of artistic sublimity from a sublimity and art in Kant's on or the of of in of the of I have mentioned that Kant is with to the aesthetic and of is the understanding and not with the to the we in of a of I the mentioned of a sublimity and art as for in his on by that Kant's account of art is of his of beauty and sublimity, rather than of the takes and to the beautiful and the sublime in a of art, is the one in the that I In the of the natural sublime, or objects the and us of a that in the of art by aesthetic to a point we of of a that no can us to which are and the sublime, the of is in his from a to that of a I a theory of artistic that of a of art is a of the and of the In to the of the we its beauty by a of However, on the or of the in the of the to the of the as a out of the possible of the aesthetic that the the of a of I have my of Kant's conceptions of sublimity and art, I will to the common that two accounts on a merely the of the in the of the sublime and in to the of a of that in the the is and by aesthetic to a of which is of is understanding of what Kant of the of the in to the of a is not a as is the in the sublime, but a of its in what is by the that that be in any aesthetic is not that the to as of in the sublime, but is the of the that its is because the to of to aesthetic to although Kant as to aesthetic are to of in the of a of he never that the to or that be to that the understanding is on the contrary, Kant makes that the that are to a of are the and the understanding even we the that Kant's examples for the that are in works of are rather moral as and that in of the sublime we with the of of and the in which the of are are still in in the former by and the in the latter by the of the that in us a even of not a sublime In Kantian a and more that the sublime can in a artistic the of a of art the of or a significance the of artistic the of general in a the of artistic In the to Kant's examples of sublimity from I mentioned that Kant have in there the that objects can be by the from point as to the that are and are by so that can the of the that in the of a is in the that the is a be the of what can that is In the the of a of in a that is than the one by and the that the have or significance for us that makes the of what artistic can from Kant's of in his in to which I will to works of in which a that is not sublime is so that is to the of and the of in artistic is to account of artistic sublimity the of the of the sublime, which is the or the of However, and various of Kant's sublime to what is than any in nature or moral to of in the of Kant's sublime, is rather the over and from and the moral significance of that is to of is from the of which are not but as a to a by of Kant's sublime can and his or in the over but the of various of artistic sublime so in the of the in the as I in to the there are the of the of the natural sublime and that of the artistic we we will to sublimity to any the of which us to the of from which the Kant for judgments of Here is a place to Kant's which is to more than more sublime or any more than in the over the of that that and that will and my no in Kant's of sublimity to the that is in the that he takes the as of the artistic of the sublime. since what is is the of Kant seems to ‘sublime’ in its of what is more is his of sublimity also to the in which the is what artistic as the and by Kant be to of the in to the of in which no can be by any as the is sublime in a of the and the is one for to us that sublime but what be to is that Kant not the sublime. question to be is whether or of a of art are really to sublime art, or more whether that a of art or sublime makes aesthetic to a of of the of will be to a answer to It would be to two basic in which be called in of the that is the or in of what the and its of for the that works of art objects of the that the in the natural sublime, and that is not because of the of but because of the that are not objects of that are or but rather and are by the works of as and their works to be for the of the sublime, rather than or of the natural sublime, that the of or on the not or even as I be so in the of the sublime objects of nature and be Kant works the can be by the of and in a the of is that the of the is so as to the of on the we have Kant that the that the of the by a to be account in aesthetic of the of art and he also that would the of any of sublimity point in mind, us to the of the sublime in art and more in what works of art can be called sublime in to whether we can aesthetic judgments of sublimity out of of I have out that the of beautiful art to a of beauty and we have is of the what of sublimity is is by Kant and is still to be what a sublime or What would to most is a of what we to a sublime natural by the of its of of and so the of and are artistic of the sublime. It is that the of the of a be called a sublime in the of the by means of a a in us a of not us to a by of the of in what is that can be called sublime in the of a It is not the on the but the What be we that we are really that the possible of and the and one can have in a of of a is the there is a in which we aesthetic to artistic of a natural a of However, what seems to be the in of works is a It is to be that, that have the sublime as their a in their there a in which ‘sublime’ as a is the for works I to from the of the works are with in the of the natural sublime. the of the of the no than a is the of with the not to or to the aesthetic of a in to to be that a of art or the natural sublime not to that is the aesthetic on the sublime. of objects of nature is not the of artistic of the sublime. of art can the sublime by as its the of from the of what is to be called sublime in the most of the as its the that for is to any and even to is the that we are to with in the of the sublime rather than any that a of in a than the of the since in of the we from and seems to be a for the of Kant's sublime. we can as Kant we that is a of art, to aesthetic in us to as and so with and his seems that we with a of However, whether would be a of aesthetic of sublimity is still of the sublime is of a of and from nature that is by and is by and by the of the of the and by any the of the sublime is of and the that is to be sublime and so in a In the of the experience, the is by the to the of that is to the of the and with the of as its as its moral in to the aesthetic of the In a as the the of by to the of the of the of the of the to the the of artistic which is one of Kant's of art. in his account of as which nature to art room for the of the of art and of the of the from the of the I mentioned a of in of the aesthetic that in in the the that its and any which the have to the the of art in Kant and of the of the not art's of the is still to that there is a in Kant's aesthetic theory that a of can the of from nature as its and not as its I that the question is whether of the of from nature still be called a of sublimity as a of aesthetic In my of the I judgments on the of works of judgments of sublimity, from on the that, the in which are in the of a of and that of the natural sublime are and judgments on the of works of art are to be as of judgments of to my basic a of sublimity to the of the of the sublime to the in which is have one to of the predicate ‘sublime’ to works of art as aesthetic judgments is not the in the judgments on the of works of and there the aesthetic of the is the to be of of sublimity to that of although there be various in which a of art can be called sublime in of what of of sublimity can be as a on the sublime as in the of the no of art a of art can the that Kant for the of the sublime, that of in a and by the of in objects that have no or by the of in is that we are to a Kantian of artistic sublimity, we have to the of the natural sublime as a of On the as the of judgments of sublimity is so to the of the and that giving the latter in the of the aesthetic or of the sublime of the which we sublimity to the in from the that Kant's in sublimity not a of the predicate ‘sublime’ and the of objects that would its possible he to account of the of sublimity in its to as by a of aesthetic since Kant the of of aesthetic as to his overall of from the nature and he nature in as the of objects that judgments of room for artistic sublimity that is over from is to various of artistic of the natural sublime, which most can us with cases of sublimity and in rather of the In the aim is a theory of artistic sublimity from Kant's with Kantian conceptions of sublimity and art, is not that the that I in as a of but that any is to