Kant today
Dec. 10th, 2007 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeI read a bit of one of his easier books. I'm interested in his ideas on "the sublime" as it relates to wonder and awe. They aren't the same thing. He associates the sublime with grandeur - things that are large and simple - but not with things that are small and/or complex. Wonder, of course, can also be experienced when encountering small things, and since Kant was also a scientist I would think he'd at some point have looked through a microscope. Yet as far as I know, he doesn't ever reflect on what wonder at the small but unexpectedly intricate might have in common with wonder at the vast and overwhelming.
And then I have this to share, from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
apperception, which is very funny, even if you're not interested much in philosophy:
Update, 11:59 p.m.: I see that by placing the sublime above the beautiful, and by aligning Romantic devotion to noble principles with the sublime, such that devotion to principles requires a certain coldness to the needs of individuals, Kant did not foresee the rise of totalitarian or terrorist mentalities.
Update, 12/11, 8:01 a.m.: A couple of pages later, I did see that the highest principle Kant expects to arouse sublime feelings is the dignity and well-being of all humanity. I don't think the human condition does arouse those feelings, though, with rare exceptions like the early space program. I think we as a species are too powerful for that, now.
The sublime feelings are more readily aroused for perseverence against all odds or nobility in adversity, that is, for underdogs. As Royce points out, a "lost cause" is an extremely powerful motivator (though I should say instead, a "seemingly" lost cause, since his examples were the independence of Poland and Ireland). The dignity and well-being of one's group, and a willingness to sacrifice for it against the odds, are today's sublime motivators, not the dignity and well-being of humanity as a whole. If anything, we now perceive humanity as such a diversity that the beautiful, rather than the sublime, is the more likely feeling.
And then I have this to share, from
apperception, which is very funny, even if you're not interested much in philosophy:Update, 11:59 p.m.: I see that by placing the sublime above the beautiful, and by aligning Romantic devotion to noble principles with the sublime, such that devotion to principles requires a certain coldness to the needs of individuals, Kant did not foresee the rise of totalitarian or terrorist mentalities.
Update, 12/11, 8:01 a.m.: A couple of pages later, I did see that the highest principle Kant expects to arouse sublime feelings is the dignity and well-being of all humanity. I don't think the human condition does arouse those feelings, though, with rare exceptions like the early space program. I think we as a species are too powerful for that, now.
The sublime feelings are more readily aroused for perseverence against all odds or nobility in adversity, that is, for underdogs. As Royce points out, a "lost cause" is an extremely powerful motivator (though I should say instead, a "seemingly" lost cause, since his examples were the independence of Poland and Ireland). The dignity and well-being of one's group, and a willingness to sacrifice for it against the odds, are today's sublime motivators, not the dignity and well-being of humanity as a whole. If anything, we now perceive humanity as such a diversity that the beautiful, rather than the sublime, is the more likely feeling.