Critique of Judgment

This is Volume IX in the Complete Works of Immanuel Kant from LP.

"Herewith I end my whole critical business" Kant states in the preface to his third and final Critique in his core triad of critical philosophical treatises. In his old age, he turned from being Polemic to being prescriptive in his vision for a future of transcendental, rational morality. Here he recaps his whole critical system and breaks out his final thoughts between a Critique of Aesthetic and Teleological Judgment. Between Pure Reason (theoretical) and Practical Reason (law and ethics) stands the mediating Power of Judgement which recognizes the particular in the general and bridges the chasm between sensuality and morality, nature and freedom, manifesting itself to the senses.

Kant's Teleological, dialectal understanding of the experience of art is still used today in Modern art theory. His analysis of sublimity as "disinterested pleasure" as an aesthetic experience between the dynamics of the cognitive faculties of sensuality and rationality, creates a paradox of judgment as both subjective and universal. To Kant, the correct recognition of what beauty is, and responding to it authentically (morally), is vital to his entire project.