The beautiful and the sublime in Kant
the autonomy of Aesthetics from the perspective of Disinterestedness
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33871/19805071.2026.34.1.11354Keywords:
Formalist aesthetics, Kant, Extra-aesthetic, Philosophy of ArtAbstract
Immanuel Kant’s formalist aesthetics has frequently been criticized, particularly with regard to the notion of disinterestedness. In contemporary contexts, art is increasingly expected to assume political and ethical commitments, which seems to hinder a favorable reading of the Critique of the Power of Judgment. This article, however, advances the opposite claim. It argues that sustained attention to form is indispensable in aesthetic analysis, and that Kant’s thesis of disinterestedness can, in fact, provide a framework for interpretations oriented toward political and ethical concerns—so long as form is not relegated to a subordinate role. To support this argument, the article begins by examining the concepts of the Beautiful and the Sublime, exploring how they underpin the doctrine of disinterestedness and how disinterestedness itself, to some extent, contributes to the view that aesthetics can indeed be linked to extra-aesthetic spheres without compromising its autonomy.
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