Imagination in aesthetic reflection
synthesis and imaginative spontaneity in the Critique of the Power of Judgment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5380/sk.v24i1.102764Keywords:
imagination, aesthetic judgment, reflective power of judgment, schematism without concepts, free play of the facultiesAbstract
The article examines the role of imagination in Kantian aesthetic reflection, as developed in the Critique of the Power of Judgment, focusing on a specific synthetic function of imagination in the aesthetic domain. The central question is whether the aesthetic character of imagination ruptures its cognitive function in the Critique of Pure Reason or whether a common ground exists between the domains. Against interpretations that reduce aesthetic imagination to mere presentation <Darstellung>, the article argues for a distinct imaginative synthesis linked to sensibility as feeling. Kant’s “schematism without concepts” (§35) is understood as a sensification of the unity of the judgment of taste, produced in the free play of imagination and understanding mediated by the reflecting power of judgment. This synthesis explains the universality of aesthetic judgments and the structural continuity between cognitive and aesthetic domains, presenting aesthetic reflection as an essential dimension of transcendental imaginative activity.
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