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Kant’s Theory of Modern Art?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2021

Paul Guyer
Paul Guyer*
Affiliation:
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
*
Email: paul_guyer@brown.edu
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Abstract

Can Kant’s theory of fine art serve as a theory of modern art? It all depends on what ‘modern’ means. The word can mean current or contemporary, indexed to the time of use, and in that sense the answer is yes: Kant’s theory of genius implies that successful art is always to some extent novel, so there should always be something that counts as contemporary art on his theory. But ‘modern’ can also be used adjectively, perhaps more properly as ‘modernist’, to refer to art of a particular moment, in some cases superseded by postmodern art. Kant’s theory is not a theory of modernist art in at least one prominent form, the formalism of Clement Greenberg. But other theories, such as those of George Dickie and Arthur Danto, although triggered by particular works of modernist art and meant to accommodate them, were meant to be theories of what art was always doing, and Kant’s is too. In that sense it can be considered a modern theory of art but not a theory of modern art.

Keywords

KantBellDantoDickieGreenbergaesthetic ideasbeautyfine artformalismgenius
Type
Article
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 26 , Special Issue 4: Special Issue on Kant and Contemporary Art , December 2021 , pp. 619 - 634
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Kantian Review

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