ABSTRACT
On the first page of his Critique of Practical Reason, Kant asserts that 'The concept of freedom, in so far as its reality is proved by an apodictic law or practical reason, is the keystone of the whole architecture of the system of pure reason and even of speculative reason'. 1 Kant's philosophical work functions as a system and the moral law is its foundation. Kant writes '[One must be able to] grasp correctly the idea of the whole, and then to see all its parts in their reciprocal interrelations, in light of their derivation from the concept ofthe whole, and as united in a purely rational faculty'. 2 What we must notice in this is that it is not possible to read Kant's philosophical works in a linear fashion and hope to grasp them. In order to be properly understood Kant's work must be reread and cross-referenced. His theories involve the fundamental and intimate interrelation of his various works. In this way, one must look at Kant's aesthetic and moral works as intrinsically connected works that cannot be properly understood in isolation from each other. It becomes clear that Kant's practical moral theory involves developmental stages that can only be addressed in this interchange between the aesthetic and moral. Ultimately, to reclaim Kant for a new era, one must address his use of the beautiful and the sublime within his project as empowering symbols that are instrumental for the progress from one developmental stage to the next. Since the importance of aesthetic experiences lies in their potential relation to morality, I will begin with a discussion of the pertinent elements of Kant's work on morality.
