Thinking with Kant’s Critique of Judgment

by Michel Chaouli

Why read Kant’s Critique of Judgment today? Does this classic of aesthetic theory still possess the vitality to prompt those of us engaged with art and criticism to think more deeply about issues that move us, issues such as the force of aesthetic experience, the essence of art, and the relationship of beauty and meaning? It does, if we find the right way into it.

Michel Chaouli shows us one such way. He unwraps the gray packing paper of Kant’s prose to reveal the fresh and fierce ideas that dwell in this masterpiece―not just the philosopher’s theory of beauty but also his ruminations on organisms and life. Each chapter in Thinking with Kant’s Critique of Judgment unfolds the complexity of a key concept, to disclose its role in Kant’s thought and to highlight the significance it holds for our own thinking.

Chaouli invites all who are interested in art and interpretation―novice and expert alike―to set out on the path of thinking with the Critique of Judgment . The rewards are we see just how profoundly Kant’s book can shape our own ideas about aesthetic experience and meaning. By thinking with Kant, we learn to surpass the horizon of his thought and find ourselves pushed to the very edge of what can be grasped firmly. That is where Kant’s book is at its most thrilling.

Genres: Philosophy

336 pages, Hardcover

Published January 2, 2017

Reviews

[BerndBummser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insanely lucid while maintaining a pleasant (although occasionally longwinded, yet still thoroughly enjoyable) tone. Its chief strength lies in the highly systematized and progressive reading it offers of the Third Critique; as Chaouli himself notes, the aim is to foreground the often understated consonances and latent possibilities for expansion that the Third Critique contains within the broader Kantian opus. The book succeeds in doing so without sacrificing depth for clarity, or clarity for depth, and provides generous excursions and points of connection that situate the Third Critique within a wider historical and academic context while never losing sight of the text at hand. It was especially interesting to contrast and expand this reading with Deleuze's monograph on Kant, which also leans heavily on the Third Critique as a grand reworking and recontextualisation of the Kantian system.

[Dionysius the Areopagite · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not come across a better modern guide and accompaniment to the third Critique than this... thank you kindly Professor Chaouli. I'll be recommending this for many years to students eager to examine Kantian aesthetics albeit unsure where to begin as concerns supplementary material(s).