Immanuel Kant's Theory Of Aesthetics

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The subject of whether architecture falls under the category of art has always been highly debated and argued by academics and philosophers who have contributed valid reasoning as to why architecture is the highest form of art while others provided rational reasoning as to why it is not. In this essay, I will aim to construct a logical argument which aims to understand the theories of philosophers who had an significant influence on the subject, from the first definitive discourse on ‘fine arts’ by Charles Batteux to the deontological ethical theory ascribed to Immanuel Kant, concluding with a personal opinion, with reference to the introductory quotation, on whether aesthetic architecture can be art despite being attached to utility. When…show more content…
Here he is concerned with the aesthetic value and differentiates between pure and adherent beauty. This is the grounds on which Kant distinguishes fine art from “utilitarian art,” which is what he refers to as craft. The objects that exist in this category are distinctly recognized by things that hold a purpose and this very purpose is what, in Kant’s view, pollutes their capacity for beauty and renders them as adherently aesthetic. (Holland, 2013) Fine art, however, serves no purpose other than being an object of pure beauty and an object exhibits pure beauty when its abstract form is pleasing to our perception, independent from what kind of object it is. Kant goes a step further to say that fine art communicates ideas which cannot be fully understood or grasped by our perception, such as the idea of God which delivers our minds into the pleasurable free-realm of thought which is a characteristic of an aesthetic, abstract experience. As a result, if architecture is to be considered as a fine art according to Kant, it should be able to express aesthetic ideas and further aim to achieve pure beauty through abstract forms, unpolluted by considerations of purpose. (Holland,

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