Cuff Snow Aesthetic Conflict and Contradiction

The Sublime in Kant and Kierkegaard
1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-3-11-117014-5
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
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E-Book, Englisch, Band 151, 241 Seiten

Reihe: Quellen und Studien zur PhilosophieISSN

The central claim of this comparative study of Kant and Kierkegaard is that the aesthetic experience of the sublime is both autonomous and formative for extra-aesthetic ends. Aesthetic autonomy is thus inseparable from aesthetic heteronomy.In Part I, through an examination of Kant’s Critique of Judgement and his essays on the French Revolution, the Kantian sublime is shown to conflict with our existing cognitive, moral and political frames of meaning, at the same time that the engagement of the aesthetic judge (Chapter 1) or the enthusiastic spectator (Chapter 2) with this conflict furthers our pursuit of cognitive, moral and political ends. The Kantian sublime is built on the autonomy of aesthetic judgement, which nevertheless has non-aesthetic value.Part II argues that certain aesthetic and ethical-religious figures in Kierkegaard’s work can be shown to be transfigurations of the Kantian sublime, despite the absence of the term. Antigone and the silhouettes from Either/Or embody what I coin the tragic sublime and sublime grief. The God-man in Practice in Christianity is interpreted as a sublime image of contradiction. The figures are submitted to aesthetic representation, while their contradictory interior lives are unrepresentable. The Kierkegaardian sublime is built on a radical critique of aesthetic autonomy, whose failure serves the end of ethico-religious self-formation.

Zielgruppe

Students and scholars in the fields of philosophy, aesthetics, ar

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cuff Snow, Samuel

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Westliche Philosophie: 18. Jahrhundert
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ästhetik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Westliche Philosophie: 19. Jahrhundert

Leseproben

Notes on Sources and Abbreviations

All citations of the following texts by Kant and Kierkegaard will be provided, in-text and parenthetically, using the abbreviations below. A complete list of all other references can be found in the Bibliography.

Works by Kant

In keeping with standard practice in Kant scholarship, I studied the Academy Edition (AA) of his collected works: Kants gesammelte Schriften, edited by the Königliche Preußische (later Deutsche, and most recently Berlin-Brandenburgische) Akademie der Wissenschaften, 29 volumes (Berlin: Georg Reimer, later Walter de Gruyter, 1902?–?). Parenthetical in-text citations contain the work's abbreviation (see below), followed by the volume:page number of the AA. (When a work not listed below is cited, I provide AA and the volume:page number.)

I also consulted The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant, edited by Paul Guyer and Allen Wood (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1992?–?). Apart from some modifications, I generally follow the Cambridge translation in order to maintain consistency throughout the thesis and with (most) contemporary English-language scholarship on Kant. I address explicitly any other modification that I deem to be significant and/or necessary in order to avoid a significant misreading of Kant's text.

The abbreviations of the Academy Edition works, their original year of publication – apart from texts from Kant's hand-written remains (Handschriftlicher Nachlass) – and their corresponding Cambridge English translations, are given below. Given the Cambridge Edition provides the AA pagination in the margins, my citations of AA do not include the relevant page number of the English translation. Moreover, I usually refer to the German titles, so that it is absolutely clear which work is meant, despite the fact that there are (and exist in publication) various possible English translations.

Abbreviations (Kant)

A

Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung? (1784)

‘An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?’ (1996). In Practical Philosophy, edited and translated by Mary J. Gregor, 15?–?22

ApH

Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht (1798)

‘Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View’ (2007), translated by Robert Louden. In Anthropology, History, and Education, edited by Günter Zöller and Robert B. Louden, 227?–?429

Bem.

Bemerkungen zu den Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen

‘Remarks in the Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime’ (2011), translated by Uygar Abaci, Robert C. Clewis, Matthew Cooley, Patrick Frierson, Paul Guyer, Thomas Hilgers and Michael Nance. In Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime and Other Writings, edited by Patrick Frierson and Paul Guyer, 65?–?204

BSE

Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen (1764)

‘Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime’ (2011), translated by Paul Guyer. In Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime and Other Writings

EE

Erste Einleitung in die Kritik der Urteilskraft

‘First Introduction’ (2000a). In Critique of the Power of Judgment, edited by Paul Guyer, translated and edited by Paul Guyer and Eric Matthews, 1?–?51

EF

Zum ewigen Frieden (1795)

‘Toward Perpetual Peace’ (1996). In Practical Philosophy, 311?–?51

GMS

Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten (1785)

‘Groundwork of The Metaphysics of Morals’ (1996). In Practical Philosophy, 37?–?108

GTP

Über den Gebrauch teleologischer Principien in der Philosophie (1788)

‘On the Use of Teleological Principles in Philosophy’ (2007), translated by Günter Zöller. In Anthropology, History, and Education, 192?–?218

IAG

Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht (1784)

‘Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim’ (2007), translated by Allen Wood. In Anthropology, History, and Education, 107?–?20

KU

Kritik der Urteilskraft (1790)

Critique of the Power of Judgment (2000b), edited by Paul Guyer, translated and edited by Paul Guyer and Eric Matthews

KpV

Kritik der praktischen Vernunft (1788)

‘Critique of Practical Reason’ (1996). In Practical Philosophy, 133?–?271

KrV

Kritik der reinen Vernunft (A: 1781 / B: 1787)

Critique of Pure Reason (1998), edited and translated by Paul Guyer and Allen Wood

MA

Mutmaßlicher Anfang der Menschengeschichte (1786)

‘Conjectural Beginning of Human History’ (2007), translated by Allen Wood. In Anthropology, History, and Education, 160?–?75

MS

Metaphysik der Sitten (1797)

‘Metaphysics of Morals’ (1996). In Practical Philosophy, 353?–?604

Rel.

Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft (1793)

‘Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason’ (1996), translated by George di Giovanni. In Religion and Rational Theology, edited by Allen W. Wood and George di Giovanni, 39?–?215

SF

Der Streit der Fakultäten (1798)

‘The Conflict of the Faculties’ (1996), translated by Mary J. Gregor and Robert Anchor. In Religion and Rational Theology, 233?–?328

TP

Über den Gemeinspruch: Das mag in der Theorie richtig sein, taugt aber nicht für die Praxis (1793)

‘On the Common Saying: That May Be Correct in Theory, But It Is of No Use in Practice’ (1996). In Practical Philosophy, 273?–?310

Works by Kierkegaard

The only collection of Kierkegaard's complete works in English is the so-called Hong edition. There is an increasing number of recent (and arguably more reliable) translations of individual works. For reasons of consistency, I cite from the Hong edition: Kierkegaard's Writings, edited and translated by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, 26 Volumes (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978?–?2000); as well as Journals and Papers, edited and translated by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, assisted by Gregor Malantschuk, 7 Volumes (Bloomington; London: Indiana University Press, 1967). I have occasionally modified the translation.

I also cite the corresponding volume and page number of the collected edition of Kierkegaard's works in Danish: Søren Kierkegaards Skrifter (SKS), edited by Niels Jørgen Cappelørn, et al. (Copenhagen: Gad, 1997?–?). I have provided the Danish and English titles and their respective year of publication below.

Abbreviations (Kierkegaard)

CA

The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Orienting Deliberation on the Dogmatic Issue of Hereditary Sin (1980), translated by Reidar Thomte in collaboration with Albert B. Anderson

Begrebet Angest (1844)

CI

The Concept of Irony, with Continual Reference to Socrates (1992)

Om Begrebet Ironi med stadigt Hensyn til Socrates (1841)

CUP

Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments (1992)

Afsluttende uvidenskabelig Efterskrift til de philosophiske Smuler (1846)

E/O I

Either/Or. Part I (1988)

Enten-Eller. Føste Deel (1843)

E/O II

Either/Or. Part II (1988)

...

Über Autor(innen)

Samuel Cuff Snow, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin.