Judgment Takes Care of Itself

Abstract: Aesthetic judgment does not require defense, because moral judgment saturates our language and our experience. In the first part of this essay, I look at the writings of Iris Murdoch, Stanley Cavell, and G. E. M. Anscombe to show how judgments shape our most intimate dealings with the world. In the second part, I examine a strong instance of practical criticism: the writings of Clement Greenberg on Impressionism and Henri Matisse. Greenberg’s Kantian attempt to separate aesthetic judgment from moral judgment breaks down in practice, a testimony to the depth of his engagement with art and the ubiquity of moral judgment.