The Kantian sublime and the revelation of freedom /
[Book]
Robert R. Clewis.
New York :
Cambridge University Press,
2009.
1 online resource (xiii, 258 pages)
Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-249) and index.
1. The observations and the remarks. The observations ; Forms of the sublime, and the grotesque ; Virtue ; The remarks : history and background ; Four senses of freedom ; Enthusiasm : the passion of the sublime -- 2. The judgment of the sublime. Preliminary issues ; The mathematical and the dynamical sublime ; A third kind : the moral sublime ; Dependent and free sublimity ; The monstrous and the colossal ; Sublimity elicited by art -- 3. Moral feeling and the sublime. The moral feeling of respect ; Sublimity as presupposing freedom ; Sublimity as supporting morality -- 4. Various senses of interest and disinterestedness. Interest ; First-order and second-order interests ; Empirical and morally based interests -- 5. Aesthetic enthusiasm. Enthusiasm in the corpus ; Affect ; Enthusiasm as morally ambiguous ; Enthusiasm as an aesthetic feeling of sublimity ; "Without enthusiasm nothing great can be accomplished" ; Conclusion: Kantian enthusiasm and the revelation of freedom -- 6. Enthusiasm for the idea of a republic. The charge against Kant ; Means and ends ; Freedom and the idea of a republic ; The consistency of Kant's position -- 7. Conclusion. Summary ; Sublimity's basis in freedom ; The transition to freedom -- Appendix 1: On the remarks -- Appendix 2: Some features of the feelings discussed in this book -- Appendix 3: Classification of what elicits sublimity.
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In this book Robert R. Clewis shows how certain crucial concepts in Kant's aesthetics and practical philosophy - the sublime, enthusiasm, freedom, empirical and intellectual interests, the idea of a republic - fit together and deepen our understanding of Kant's philosophy. He examines the ways in which different kinds of sublimity reveal freedom and indirectly contribute to morality, and discusses how Kant's account of natural sublimity suggests that we have an indirect duty with regard to nature. Unlike many other studies of these themes, this book examines both the pre-Critical Observations and the remarks that Kant wrote in his copy of the Observations. Finally, Clewis takes seriously Kant's claim that enthusiasm is aesthetically sublime, and shows how this clarifies Kant's views of the French Revolution. His book will appeal to all who are interested in Kant's philosophy.