Abstract
The idea of freedom is definitive for both Kant’s definition of beauty and his description of the sublime. In beauty, humans experience a free lawfulness: a state in which we are guided by but not restricted to conceptual analysis. In the sublime, we are reminded of the freedom that allows us to transcend even the fear of death. Although Hegel’s definition of freedom and his philosophy of art differ significantly from Kant’s, the idea that art allows us to experience freedom is common to both philosophers. Humans’ understanding of freedom is pivotal to the emergence of artistic genres from the Egyptian sphinx to the romantic novel, according to Hegel; it also explains the joy we experience through painting and especially through poetry. This essay will trace this Kantian inheritance in Hegel’s thought.
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