ABSTRACT
§1. There is an obvious connection between æsthetic experiences and sympathy, but before we can be sure what the connection is we must try to elucidate the vague term. Kant held that the sympathy is only with our fellow-admirers of public beautiful objects, natural or works of art, or at least only arises from a confidence that a private æsthetic experience would, if communicated, be similarly valued by them. This sympathy, as he saw, is strictly extraneous and subsequent to the pure æsthetic experience. It cannot be doubted that we do delight in sharing our æsthetic pleasures as we do those of the table, of knowledge or of gossip, and more deeply. Most of us enjoy discussing with a friend the poetry, novels, music and pictures for which we have a common taste; and we like to have him with us in good scenery. But the question is whether, in some proper sense of the word, sympathy is integral to a private æsthetic experience.
