Krisztina Biber
Department of Philosophy
Coordinator
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Central European University
Nador u. 9. | 1051 Budapest, Hungary
The CEU Department of Philosophy cordially invites you to a talk
(as part of its Departmental Colloquium series)
by
Mojca Küplen (Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
on
`The Cognitive Dimension of Aesthetic Experience: A Kantian Approach`
Tuesday, 25 November 2014, 5.30 PM, Zrinyi 14, Room 412
ABSTRACT
It is often claimed that aesthetic and cognitive values are distinct. This view has been commonly attributed to Kant’s aesthetic theory and his strict distinction between cognitive (or conceptual) judgments and aesthetic judgments. Since aesthetic judgments are dependent on the feeling of pleasure or displeasure alone, it is claimed that aesthetic experience is essentially noncognitive. I aim to express a critique of this view attributed to Kant and to show that aesthetic experience of beauty and ugliness is a cognitive activity.
I develop my proposal in light of Kant’s theory of aesthetic ideas put forward in the Critique of the Power of Judgment. I address the question whether and how his theory can be interpreted in a way that can explain the cognitive significance of ugliness and beauty. The course of my argument is the following: First, I show in what sense an aesthetic idea is valuable, namely, because it is the only way in which we can have some sort of perception of ideas that go beyond sensory experience. Second, I aim to show that aesthetic ideas need not only be of what is beautiful, but can also be of what is ugly and gives rise to displeasure. Third, I aim to explain the association of ugliness and beauty with aesthetic ideas by referring to Kant’s notion of the reflective judgments and the a priori principle of purposiveness.