Thursday, December 13, 2012

Firstness, Oneness, Genius, Taste

The title of #40 of the Critique of Judgment is 'Fine Art is the Art of Genius', and the first sentence of the section is "Genius is the talent . . . that gives the rule to art.". At #50, Kant states that "art . . . deserves to be called fine art only insofar as it shows taste", later adding that "taste . . . consists in disciplining (or training) genius.  It severely clips its wings . . ."  So, by denying that Genius governs Art, #50 plainly contradicts #46.  Indeed, the attribution, by Taste, of 'Beauty' to an object, is, according to Kant's theory, independent of whether or not the object is a product of Genius.  That is, the theory distinguishes the singularity of the experience of such objects, from the originality of the genesis of such objects, privileging only the former.  In other words, a beautiful object is a One, but not a First, contrary to the character of the highest value in the theory of Fine Art that Kant briefly entertains at #46.

No comments:

Post a Comment