Monday, January 14, 2013

Organism, Art, Morality

In #65 of the Critique of Judgment, Kant distinguishes an Organism from a work of Art, on the grounds that the former is a "self-organizing being", while the latter is the purposive product of an external cause, e. g. an artist.  However, he does not seem to consider the possible application of that characterization of Organism to his assertion, in #46, that via Genius, "nature gives the rule to art."  For, on the basis of that formulation, both the creative process, and its product, can be self-organizing.  In that case, the defining characteristic of preeminent Art is Vitality, which can easily explain why it stimulates the cognitive faculties of an audience, and animates an eagerness of the latter to share the experience.  So, where Kant describes the contemplation of Beauty as "restful", e. g. in #24 and #27, the rule that nature gives to the object of contemplation must be other than that of Self-Organization.  Likewise, insofar as, as has been previously proposed here, Well-Being consists in optimum Organistic vitality, including socializing functions, it is artistic Vitality that is the symbol of Morality.

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