Besides the faculty of cognition and the feeling of pleasure and displeasure the human mind also has a faculty of desiring according to Kant. And desiring is what practical philosophy deals with, be it the doctrine of happiness, dealing with that which we actually desire, or moral philosophy, dealing with that which we ought to desire. But in the faculty of desiring, Kant differentiates Choice, the faculty of choosing between various options, so to say the faculty of desiring of the sensual homo phaenomenon, and the Will, practical reason, the faculty of acting according to a principle and therefore in a purposive manner, so to say the faculty of desiring of the spiritual homo noumenon.

Quote: 0:08

The faculty of desiring: 2:04

Choice and its driving springs: 27:08

Will or practical reason: 52:13

Effecting, acting and operating: 1:11:12

Practical philosophy and Kant's project of a Critique of Practical Reason: 1:37:46

Thanks: 1:41:33

The faculty of desiring in general, the Choice and also the Will are explained amongst other places in the introduction to the Metaphysics of Morals: https://ld.circuitdebater.org/w/archive_files/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf/507955836/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf. Further important remarks are included in Kant's handwritten estate on moral philosophy: http://korpora.org/kant/aa19/ (I am not aware of any English translation).

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Kant's remarks on aesthetics and the pleasure in the Beautiful and the Sublime get less attention than his epistemology or his moral philosophy, but they have an important place in his system and form a bridge between nature and freedom, cognition and will.

Quote: 0:08

The aesthetical feeling in comparison with the similiar and opposing pathological feelings: 1:33

The aesthetical pleasure in comparison with the other kinds of pleasure: 4:34

The place of aesthetics in Kant's system: 14:02

The connection of the pleasure in the Beautiful and the Sublime and morality: 23:45

Thanks: 50:03

Overiew over philosophy according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Philosophy-according-to-Kant.jpg

Overview over the faculties of the mind and the critiques according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/faculties-of-the-mind-and-critiques-according-to-Kant.jpg

The thinking faculty according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/faculty-of-thinking-according-to-Kant.jpg

Comparing remarks on the Beautiful and the Sublime can be found in Kant’s Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime: https://tcnjpainting.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/kantobservationsonthefeelingofthebeautifulandsublimeandotherwritingscambridge.pdf and also in his Critique of the Power of Judgment: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48433/48433-h/48433-h.htm.

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Alongside the beautiful Kant describes another kind of aesthetical pleasure: That in the sublime, that which is large and terrible beyond scale. Through that it may be unpurposive for us as sensual beings, but this shows us our own purposiveness as supersensual creatures and reminds us of our freedom to stay steadfast, true to our principles and firm in our character, even in the face of our physical demise. Through this the sublime is important as proof for Kant's transcendental idealism as well as as a bridge to his moral philosophy.

Quote: 0:08

Kant's inquiry into the beautiful and the sublime: 2:37

The sublime: 8:56

1. Quantity: 25:16

2: Quality: 52:26

- Displeasure can create pleasure: 55:07

- All pleasure comes from displeasure being taken away: 1:04:20

- The sublime is liked because, through physically overwhelming us, it points us at our supersensual nature: 1:20:36

- The sublime is liked in mere contemplation without interest: 1:32:31

3. Relation: 1:41:47

The perversion of the sublime in fascist propaganda: 2:15:55

4. Modality: 2:28:07

The parallelism of determining and reflecting power of judgment: 2:42:51

The philosophical significance of the sublime: 2:48:48

The personal significance of the sublime for Kant: 3:13:43

Thanks: 3:21:51

A more anthropological description of the sublime and comparison between it and the beautiful that is easy to read for laymen, can be found in Kant's Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime: https://tcnjpainting.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/kantobservationsonthefeelingofthebeautifulandsublimeandotherwritingscambridge.pdf. For a philosophical critical inquiry into the sublime on the other hand one has to study the analytic of the sublime in the Critique of the Power of Judgment: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48433/48433-h/48433-h.htm.

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Truly beautiful art is always a product of genius to Kant, a gift of nature to create original works which may serve as examples for others to follow. This genius however is made up of four faculty, which only in their interplay produce the work of art. Spirit is the one out of those faculties which constitutes the proper genius – but it is taste which brings it in line.

Quote: 0:08

Genius is made up of four faculties: 0:33

1. Intellect: 7:45

2. Power of imagination: 15:26

3. Spirit: 57:40

In myth the genius of a people expresses itself: 1:30:22

4. Taste: 1:44:23

In which way children are geniuses: 1:51:30

Taste should bring the wild freedom of the genius under laws: 1:59:53

Today they try to create spirit-rich but tasteless art: 2:10:49

The understanding of art of fascism, ausklärung and aufklärung: 2:22:48

The elements of genius according to the table of categories: 3:06:53

The four elements of genius can be pronounced in different proportions: 3:13:09

Thanks: 3:29:37

Overiew of art according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/art-according-to-Kant.jpg

The table of categories according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/table-of-categories-according-to-Kant.jpg

About genius Kant speaks most thoroughly and systematically in the respective passages of the Critique of the Power of Judgment: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/48433/pg48433-images.html. Important further remarks can be found where he speaks about anthropology, so in his Anthropology from a pragmatic point of view: http://korpora.org/kant/aa07/230.html, his lectures on anthropology: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_a3n3 | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_j8c0 and his handwritten estate on anthropology: http://korpora.org/kant/aa15/234.html. (I could not find any free English translations online)

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Genius for Kant is a natural gift which cannot be learned. That's why in the strict sense only the artist is a genius, not the scientist, because the latter can teach his discoveries to others. It is a special creative originality, whose products can serve as exemplary to others.Quote: 0:00 To judge art taste is enough, but to produce it genius is needed: 0:34Genius is original spirit: 10:27The originality of the genius is exemplary: 31:11The beautiful work of art seems like a product of nature: 1:06:18Genius is a talent and can't be learned: 1:16:13Genius produces the content of the work of art, not its form: 1:32:23Thanks: 1:42:28Overiew of art according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/art-according-to-Kant.jpgAbout genius Kant speaks most thoroughly and systematically in the respective passages of the Critique of the Power of Judgment: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/48433/pg48433-images.html. Important further remarks can be found where he speaks about anthropology, so in his Anthropology from a pragmatic point of view: http://korpora.org/kant/aa07/230.html, his lectures on anthropology: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_a3n3 | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_j8c0 and his handwritten estate on anthropology: http://korpora.org/kant/aa15/234.html. (I could not find any free English translations online) Whoever wants to support my aufkläring work can do so via:https://ko-fi.com/jonathanivoloewerhttps://www.patreon.com/jonathanivoloewerhttps://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VDDT7T7XHR77UThumbnail: www.hotpot.ai

In German art (Kunst) comes from being able to (können), just as science (Wissenschaft) comes from knowing (wissen), Kant says. So for him any exercise of skill which creates a purposive product is a type of art. But there are big differences between the merely mechanical and useful art of carftmanship, the pleasant entertaining art and the proper beautiful art, which, though an artificial product, as a product of genius, appears as if it was a product of nature.

Quote: 0:08

Art in general is the opposite of nature: 0:20

Mechanical art: 5:27

Aesthetical art: 9:06

Pleasant art: 11:19

Our time tries to degrade higher art into merely pleasant art too: 43:52

Pleasant and beautiful art can be paired: 59:37

Beautiful art: 1:03:02

Concept art: 1:14:08

Thanks: 1:22:46

Overiew of art according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/art-according-to-Kant.jpg

About art Kant speaks in the critique of the aesthetical power of judgment in his Critique of the Power of Judgment: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/48433/pg48433-images.html. Further remarks can be found scattered throughout his works, especially in his works on anthropology, so in his Anthropology from a pragmatic point of view: http://korpora.org/kant/aa07/230.html, his lectures on anthropology: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_a3n3 | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_j8c0 and his handwritten estate on anthropology: http://korpora.org/kant/aa15/234.html. (I could not find any free English translations online) But also his lectures on logic deal with art at times, that is with the difference between the aesthetical and the logical: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes241imma/page/n5/mode/2up | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes242imma/page/n7/mode/2up (English translations exist, but unfortunately I couldn't find them for free on the internet.)

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Dē gustibus nōn est disputandum - There can be no disputes on taste, is an old principle that still many adhere to. Kant deals with it in the dialectic of the aesthetical power of judgment. For like in the Critique of Pure Reason and in the Critique of Practical Reason in the Critique of the Power of Judgment he finds an antinomy in our thinking faculty, an opposition between two seemingly equally true statements, which still seem to exclude one another. And like in the other two Critiques this antinomy is of central importance, for it elevates us to the idea of the supersensual and proves that transcendental idealism is the only possible system.

Quote: 0:08

Dialectic: 1:05

The dialectic of the aesthetical power of judgment: 4:36

Solution to the antinomies: 14:19

The connection between beauty and morality: 28:59

The significance of the dialectic of the aesthetical power of judgment: 38:06

Thanks: 45:44

The question whether one can dispute on matters of taste is the topic of the dialectic of the aesthetical power of judgment in the Critique of the Power of Judgment: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/48433/pg48433-images.html

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For Kant the beautiful is the sensualization of the moral. The harmony in the beautiful form of a sensual object is like the harmony in the supersensual relation between moral beings. And in the contemplation of the beautiful the contemplator is free of sensual interests, just as the moral person is, and also lets his objects be free, like the moral person reveres the freedom of his fellow human beings.

The pleasure taken in the beautiful is subjective, yet still universal to all humans. According to Kant it is a necessary pleasure, which isn't based on the reality of an object in which we have an interest, but which comes from the form of a representation which is purposive for our faculty of cognition and puts it into a free playing with itself.

Taste is, according to Kant, not a faculty of its own in the human being, rather it is our aesthetical power of judgment. Just like the power of judgment in general, taste therefore can be trained throughout life through repeated judging and also through examples. Its judgments may be subjective - but still claim universality, for it is a faculty of judging that which will be liked not just by the judging person alone but by everyone. This is an (aesthetical) synthetic judgment a priori.