Jeffries, Stuart Lewis; (1995) The role of disinterestedness in Kant's aesthetics. Masters thesis (M.Phil), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis assesses the role of disinterestedness in Kant's aesthetics, and how Kant analyses disinterested pleasure which he takes to ground the judgment of taste. The thesis considers what are the conditions of a genuine judgment of taste and assesses how Kant uses those conditions to distinguish judgments of beauty from other judgments. In chapter 2 and chapter 7, Kant's distinction between free and dependent beauty is analysed, and in both chapters it is argued that the notion of dependent beauty is not coherent. In chapter 3, Kant's definitions of interest in the Critique of Judgment are assessed and found to be inadequate. In chapter 4, dispositions that are deemed by Kant to be inappropriate to the grounds of the proper judgment of taste are assessed. In chapter 5, Kant's attempt to distinguish the agreeable from the beautiful is considered, and found to be unsuccessful. Chapter 6 considers the role of necessity in attempting to circumvent that third objection, and the view that the "aesthetic ought" serves as an effective means of answering the first and second objections. Chapter 7 argues that the notion of aesthetic ideas is not coherent and so cannot serve to account for the spiritual need we have in the beautiful, it cannot figure in an account of why we should acquire taste. Chapter 8 casts doubt on the extent to which a desire to have our spiritual needs met in art and nature can account for our interest in them.

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