Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Sublimity and Universality

Kant's treatment of Sublimity is peripheral to his main ambition in the Critique of Judgment, probably no more than a nod to Burke, with attention to its occurrence in Nature, but not in Art.  Now, though Nietzsche does not explicitly characterize it as such, Dionysian Music, Greek Tragedy, and Wagner's Dissonance, the primary examples of Art in Birth of Tragedy, can each be classified as Sublime, thereby establishing a sharp contrast with Kant's study of Aesthetics.  One notable element in the contrast is whereas for Kant, the scope of Universality is Individuals, in Nietzsche's examples, as a result of ego-shattering Sublimity, one finds oneself as a "member of a higher community".  In other words, a We, as opposed to a mere collection of Is, emerges in Nietzsche's study as a Sublime Universal.

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