Aristotle and Kant

Question 1

Aristotle
Life details
-life span
-origon
-Language 
-wealth
-teacher

Answer 1

• Rough Dates: 384 BCE - 322 BCE
• Country of Origin: Greece
• Language: Greek
• Born wealthy
• Was taught under Plato

Question 2

Aristotle view on Art

Answer 2

He believed art could exist for art’s sake, despite his teacher Plato saying otherwise

Question 3

Aristotle : Poetry

Answer 3

causes, lying deep in Our nature, first the instinct of imitation; second harmony & rhythm.

Question 4

Aristotle : How’s tragedy play in here?

Answer 4

Tragedy plays a part in this because we like to reproduce situations that evoke strong emotions and purge our feelings

We may enjoy it because of the element of excitement and how it takes us away from our reality

Question 5

Aristotle : Human’s tragic dimension

Answer 5

we have capacity for great qualities but don’t take full advantage of it

Question 6

Aristotle : What is catharsis?

Answer 6

Catharsis is the purging of emotions - a type of release or satisfaction typically coming at the end of a tragic play

Question 7

Kant

• life span
• origon
• Language
• work

Answer 7

Rough Dates: 18th Century (1724 - 1804)

• Country of Origin: Germany
• Language: German
• Wrote Critique of Judgement (shorty after the French and American revolution)

Question 8

Kant-life background

Answer 8

Mother died when he was 13, father died when he was 22
Supported his sisters financially as a tutor of wealthy families (for 9 years), and didn’t go to college yet
Eventually finished his education and then became a professor at age 46
Described as very short but with a huge head
No close friends, marriages, or affairs but still a cheerful life
Possibly OCD, and definitely a hypochondriac
Died at age 80

Question 9

Kant’s Critique of Judgment.

Answer 9

BOOK

Question 10

Kant: What is the experience of beauty? How is it different from other experiences?

Answer 10

A feeling of beauty is brought on by just experiencing the art, whether listening or looking at it; there’s nothing else running through your head about the art at that time, and it’s a profound feeling.

Question 11

what is interest?

Answer 11

Interest is when you have some preconceived notion or bias towards something. You’re trying to get something out of it

Question 12

the castle

Answer 12

Castles are usually seen as a symbol of royalty, which gives off a preconceived pleasant feeling. A feeling of beauty may be that the castle is actually just gorgeous to look at. A bias would be if you’re remembering all the architecture used in building the castle, or what happened historically in that castle, or how awesome/awful it would be to live in that castle.

Question 13

the apple

Answer 13

Looking at the apple may give a feeling of beauty. Good is that the apple is nutritional for you. Pleasant is that you may be hungry and the apple tastes good.

Question 14

the kitty portrait

Answer 14

If the prof has a picture of his cat and asks you to look at it, telling you about his cat and it’s life story, you’ll have a bias. If he asks you “isn’t this beautiful?” He’s making you have an interest, and therefore you cannot have an experience of beauty. The owner of the cat/painting has a bias and an interest in that painting because of his emotional attachment to the cat. You can still have a feeling of beauty looking at the image later if you can get the extra information out of your head first.

Question 15

the cell phone

Answer 15

looking at it may be a feeling beauty because it is shiny and cool looking. Good is that the phone is useful to you. Pleasant is that you can entertain yourself using it.

Question 16

“All interest presupposes or generates a want, and, as the determining ground of assent, it leaves the judgement about the object no longer free”

Answer 16

Interest > want > bias > no experience of beauty

Question 17

If the exp. of beauty is disinterested, how can you describe it?

Answer 17

Momentary transcendence, doesn’t need a reason

Question 18

How are good [for] and pleasant different from beauty with regard to interest?

Answer 18

Good is a practical sense of enjoyment/ an ethical moment while pleasant gives you a nice feeling or satisfaction, ex) a back scratch.
Beauty is just how we feel when we see something that lets us think nothing other than “wow, that’s really beautiful” without figuring out why we think it’s so great.

Question 19

Purpose

Answer 19

utility

Question 20

Purposiveness

Answer 20

design/composition

Question 21

Taste needs a mixture of charms and emotions in order that there may be satisfaction

Answer 21

I think he’s saying that need charms and emotions is a barbaric thing to want

Question 22

the experience of everything coming together is compared to…and why?

Answer 22

hip-hop
it is a flow that is intrinsic with composition quality and the gift, the narrative isn’t important but the sound is amazing and something you cannot teach

Question 23

what is a judgement of taste on which charm and emotion have no influence?

Answer 23

a pure judgement of taste

Question 24

What are we responding to in beautiful things?

Answer 24

we are conscious it is art and not nature.
you are hearing and seeing something
“Beauty is the form of the purposiveness of an object so far as this is perceived in it without any representation of a purpose “

Question 25

Is emotional response – happy, sad, consoled, romantic, charmed, — likely to be a channel to disinterested satisfaction or a distraction for Kant?

Answer 25

It is a distraction. Because you made some sort of tie to the artwork that made it not disinterested and therefore there was a reaction.

Question 26

Is experiencing perfection the same as experiencing beauty? why, why not?

Answer 26

Perfection is a bias because in order for something to be perfect we need to know what the ideal state for that thing is or is not.

Question 27

Where, for K, is beauty?

Answer 27

In the one on one experience, not in the object.

Question 28

The logic of subjective universality beauty

Answer 28

The experience of beauty HAPPENS. no rules, no formula. it is a valid, singular feeling stimulated by sense perception. If it happens, it is real – can’t be faked. So, if everything were exactly the same for another person, they, it follows, would experience it also. [However, we know from experience that that rarely happens, except perhaps in highly controlled environments - museums, concert halls]….

Question 29

Paradox…

Answer 29

Subjective does not mean opinion but rather that it is happening inside your head
Universality: everybody (therefore this is a paradox)

Question 30

What is the universality

Answer 30

Human nature, common sense

Question 31

How are good and pleasant different with regard to universality?

Answer 31

“As regards to the pleasant, therefore, the fundamental proposition is valid: everyone has his own taste (the taste of sense” (page 128)
““Roses in general are beautiful” , is no longer described simply as aesthetical, but a logical judgement based on an aesthetical one” (page 129)

Question 32

beauty and form

Answer 32

The beautiful in nature is connected with the form of the object and has definite boundaries.

Question 33

sublime and form

Answer 33

The sublime is to be found in a formless object and boundlessness is represented.

Question 34

Sublime

Answer 34

feeling, not logical conclusion but employs reason, not disinterested and responding to something that is not concrete, outdoor, solitary

Question 35

Beauty and purposiveness

Answer 35

beauty has a purposiveness

Question 36

sublime and purposiveness

Answer 36

sublime violates purposes

Question 37

emotional boundlessness

Answer 37

Boundlessness makes you feel good rather than insignificant. Like, “wow there’s so much ocean out there” vs. “there’s so much ocean out there it’ll probably swallow me up and I’m probably not really going to affect it at all anyway”