The conclusion of the deduction of taste in the dialectic of the power of judgment aesthetic in Kant

Manuel Sánchez

doi:10.1590/s0101-31732013000200004

Abstract

In this paper, it is argued that only in the section on dialectic in the Critique of Judgment does Kant reach a definitive and conclusive version of deduction, after discovering the concept of the supersensible. In the section on the deduction of pure aesthetic judgments, Kant does not satisfactorily explain the critical distinction between the sensible nature of humanity and the supersensible nature of human reason presupposed in the concept of universal communicability. While the concept of the supersensible illustrates this distinction, it is only through this concept that Kant that can justify the specific possibility of claiming subjective validity in taste. The priority of the solution found in the dialectic is illustrated not only by a comparative analysis of the two sections, but also by a historical reconstruction of the process of the formation of the work, which shows that the first formulation of the concept of validity coincides with the use of the concept of the supersensible.

Highlights

According to the explanation itself by Kant in the Critique of the Power of Judgment, the relevance of a dialectic in this work is due to the antinomy that arises in taste with respect to the principles of this faculty (KU, AA 05: 337)
It is true that Kant presents the Dialectic as a new section of the overall work and a later stage in the development of the transcendental critique of taste, which will follow the Deduction of pure aesthetic judgments, in which an explanation and justification is provided for the possibility of their principles and the sense in which we should understand them
The exposition of the problem of antinomy in the opening of the Dialectic appears from the beginning to be an extension of the same issue that Kant had already treated in the Analytic of the Beautiful, and to which in principle he had already offered a definitive solution with the argument that we find from paragraphs 34 to 39 of the Deduction section

Summary

Introduction

According to the explanation itself by Kant in the Critique of the Power of Judgment, the relevance of a dialectic in this work is due to the antinomy that arises in taste with respect to the principles of this faculty (KU, AA 05: 337).

Results

Conclusion