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Beauty as the Symbol of Morality: A Twofold Duty in Kant’s Theory of Taste

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2018

WEIJIA WANG
WEIJIA WANG*
Affiliation:
University of Leuven
*
*<weijia.wang@student.kuleuven.be>
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Abstract

In the third Critique, Kant claims that beauty is the symbol of morality and that the consideration of this relation is a duty. This paper declares Kant’s argument to be twofold: firstly, experience of beauty strengthens our moral feeling. Secondly, in judging the beautiful, we assume some indeterminate purpose underlying nature, based on which we can conceive of nature as cooperative with our practical pursuit. Hence, for the sake of moral cultivation and moral motivation, it is our duty to regard beauty as the special symbol of morality.

Dans la troisième Critique, Kant prétend que la beauté est le symbole de la moralité et que la réflexion sur cette relation est un devoir. Cet article présente l’argument de Kant comme un double argument. Premièrement, l’expérience de la beauté renforce notre sentiment moral. Deuxièmement, à travers le jugement sur le beau, nous supposons que la nature poursuit des fins indéterminées, sur la base de quoi l’on pourrait concevoir que la nature coopère à nos fins pratiques. Ainsi, dans l’intérêt de la culture morale et de la motivation morale, il est nécessaire de traiter la beauté comme le symbole spécial de la moralité.

Keywords

Kantbeautysymboldutymoral cultivationmoral motivationintellectual interest
Type
Original Article/Article original
Information
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie , Volume 57 , Issue 4 , December 2018 , pp. 853 - 875
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 2018 

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