Critique of Judgment

Interesting Facts

• The book unites two key faculties of the human mind: the faculty of judgment about beauty (aesthetic judgment) and the faculty of judgment about the purposiveness of nature (teleological judgment).
• Kant introduces the concept of 'free beauty', which is independent of concepts or purposes, and 'dependent beauty', which is tied to the notion of what an object should be.
• One of the central concepts of the book is the 'sublime', which evokes in a person both admiration and fear, yet emphasizes their moral superiority over nature.
• Kant argues that aesthetic judgment is subjective, yet claims universality because it is based on a common sense inherent in all people.
• The book explores the idea that nature can be perceived as purposive, even if we cannot prove it has a specific purpose.
• Kant distinguishes between 'determining' and 'reflective' judgments. Determining judgments apply general rules to particular cases, while reflective judgments seek to find general principles for particular phenomena.
• Kant views art as a form of free play of imagination and understanding, where the artist creates a work that has no utilitarian purpose but evokes aesthetic pleasure.