Thoughts of Critique of Judgement

Many times when we think about something beautiful, we actually look for something agreeable. We must have interest in the object if we think it is agreeable. However, in Critique of Judgement, Kant elaborates the differences between delight in agreeable, in good, and in beautiful. Kant insists that the judgement of any beautiful object should be disinterested. In this case, we must feel pleasure because of the beauty of the object, rather than considering the object beautiful because it gives us pleasure. Therefore, the judgement of beautiful objects, or the aesthetic judgement, should have nothing to do with personal taste as beauty is separate from human interest. On the other hand, an object is beautiful when we take delight in it due to its spontaneous pattern and order, which harmonizes with our understanding.

Kant believes that the agreeable is the judgement that is based on people's taste and interest. For example, an individual may think a specific food is delicious and some kinds of flowers are gorgeous. However, another individual may have a quite different opinion. " People might indeed blame one another for folly or imprudence, but never for baseness or wickedness; for they are all, each according to his own way of looking at things, pursing one goal, which for each is the gratification in question" (Kant 38) Therefore, Kant believes that these judgements are subjective and based on personal inclinations. Thus, agreeable varies from person to person as everyone has different tastes and interests.

In addition, Kant points out that delight in the good is coupled with interest. To explain, "To deem something good, I must always know what sort of a thing the object is intended to be, i.e. I must have a concept of it" (Kant 39). Basically, Kant is trying to say that good is a judgement that the good is liked by its mere concept, and it is bound with personal interests. Thus, good is similar to agreeable as both of them are connected to personal interest.

In contrast, beauty must have a common standard among people, which means most people share the same idea about an object that is beautiful in society. To illustrate, "It is quite plain that in order to say that the object is beautiful, and to show that I have taste, everything turns on what I make of this representation within myself, and not on any factor which makes me dependent on the existence of the object" (Kant 37). Kant's point is that beauty is disinterested. He argues that we have a desire for the object if it is agreeable, which means we like the object and want it. For instance, we would like to eat an apple if there is one on the table. We want to own it and eat it. However, we would not call the apple a beautiful object. In contrast, when we see fireworks at night, we take delight in them and describe them as beautiful even though we do not have desire to own them. We think fireworks are beautiful because of their spontaneous patterns. Moreover, According to Kant, "Taste is the faculty of judging an object or a mode of representation by means of a delight or aversion apart from any interest. The object of such a delight is called beautiful" (Kant 42). Thus, Kant believes that aesthetic judgements are universal. Even though the judgement of taste is subjective, it is not based on personal tastes and interests. We do recognize beautiful objects' shapes and patterns, and we take pleasure in them. There is no connection between human desire and the judgement of taste. Therefore, both agreeable and good are interested. In contrast, the judgements of taste are universal and aesthetic but not cognitive, and beauty is disinterested.

Kant believes that if something is sublime, it must be beyond the limits of our comprehension. For example, the sublime may refer to natural disasters, such as storms, and huge structures, such as high-rise buildings. These experiences may overwhelm us as we are so limited compared to the vastness and infinity of nature. In addition, the feeling of being overwhelmed causes the feeling of discomfort, or even makes us fear.

Kant categorizes the sublime into mathematically sublime and dynamically sublime. "Sublime is the name given to what is absolutely great. But to be great and to be a magnitude are entirely different concepts (magnitudo and quantitas). In the same way to assert without qualification (simpliciter) that something is great" (Kant 78). According to Kant, mathematically sublime is not great or a magnitude but absolutely large. Huge buildings are examples of mathematically sublime. In contrast, Kant describes dynamically sublime as "Might is a power which is superior to great hindrances. It is termed dominion if it is also superior to the resistance of that which itself possesses might. Nature considered in an aesthetic judgement as might that has no dominion over us, is dynamically sublime" (Kant 90). Kant is trying to say that forces are dynamically sublime like storms that arouse our fear.

Kant insists that even though the powerful force of nature confuses and overwhelms us, there must be an answer behind it. Thus, he states "Delight in the sublime in nature is only negative (whereas that in the beautiful is positive): that is to say it is a feeling of imagination by its own act depriving itself of its freedom by receiving a purposive determination in accordance with a law other than that of its empirical employment" (Kant 99). In this case, Kant is trying to say that it is negative when we experience the sublime in nature and we feel fearful. We are so finite in comparison to the sublime in nature, and our resistance is not much compared to nature.

However, Kant believes that fear is not the end of sublime, "And by this we are also reminded that we have only to do with nature as phenomenon, and that this itself must be regarded as the mere presentation of a nature in itself (which exists in the idea of reason)" (Kant 98). Basically Kant thinks that natural disasters or huge structures are not the real objects of the sublime. If we want to find out the real objects of the sublime, they must be reasons, which are absolute freedom and totality. "We rapidly call these objects sublime, because they raise the forces of the soul above the height of vulgar commonplace, and discover within us a power of resistance of quite another kind, which gives us courage to be able to measure ourselves against the seeming omnipotence of nature" (Kant 91). However, Kant insists that the high-rise buildings and powerful storms seem so weak and powerless in comparison to absolute freedom and totality. In such a case,