The Observer’s Perspective in Kant’s Aesthetic Judgment

Kant contributed to and commented on the contemporary aesthetic discussions with his critical analysis of the pure judgement of taste. Central to Kant’s argumentation for a transcendental philosophical origin of the pure judgements of taste are his comments to the aestheticisations of European civilisation as well as his critical discussion of contemporary critics of art and beauty. In the Critique of aesthetic Judgement, he set up a critical standard for judgements of taste proposing a new philosophical foundation of aesthetics. The critique of taste analyses how empirical and transcendental judgements of taste make up an important part of civilised European urbanity. As such the critique of aesthetic judgement contains a delimitation of any future philosophically legitimate art criticism.