ABSTRACT
Immanuel Kant theory of aesthetics is being brought into play in order to expand understanding of how the inner cosmos of the value-sphere of art actually works. The basic task is to identify those elements of Kant’s account that are still applicable and show why other elements have to be discarded. A fundamental point needs to be stressed before the argument engages with the detail of Kant’s Critique of Judgement. The opposing idea that ‘art’ is a universal human cultural expression is assumed in numerous histories, philosophies and psychologies of art, and Kant himself talks of art in universalist terms. The two forms of interest that Kant wishes to separate out from the aesthetic concern the sensory delight, or agreeableness of an object, and the good. Kant’s claim is that the freedom that is inherent in the radical subjectivity of aesthetic taste means that such a judgement is assumed to have a universal validity.
