A portrait of the artist as a Post-Hermeneutic, Neo-Kantian, transubstantiation of the de-authorized postmodern author or how I learned to stop worrying and love the jargon

• Main Author: Bradley, Adam Robie
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/8000

This thesis is an interpretation and defense of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment. Several commentators see in Kant's theory of beauty grave philosophical problems that cannot be rectified; consequently, they declare his entire work to be unsalvageable. I disagree with them. Through a careful analysis of his words, I attempt to recreate his arguments in the best possible light, to present them as not only intelligent and defensible in his time but in ours as well. I believe what emerges is a theory of beauty that can withstand the criticisms of radical postmodern thinkers as well as conservative traditionalists. Kant's theory allows for the significance of a work of art to be fluid, constantly changing, without also allowing that the work can mean anything at all. His account of beauty explains not only why we find certain objects beautiful, but why we also believe that others should also find the same objects beautiful. Moreover, it permits us to discuss endlessly the significance of a beautiful object without thereby committing us to there being absolute truths about the object's meaning.