DOCSLIB.ORG

Robin George Collingwood (1889-1943), 'The Best Known Neglected Thinker of Our Time': a Meditation on His Life & Work V 2.0

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Robin George Collingwood (1889-1943), 'The Best Known Neglected Thinker of Our Time': a Meditation on His Life & Work V 2.0 Robin George Collingwood (1889-1943), 'the best known neglected thinker of our time': a meditation on his life & work v 2.0 Derek Barker Collingwood believed you should never reject any philosopher's work until you have read it at first hand. But there are grave difficulties with this: Collingwood's own views altered from book to book. Does his belief entail reading the whole of a philosopher's work before you comment on it? Anyway this is the reason I am simply offering you a meditation on his life, and aspects of his philosophy today. Biography Robin Collingwood was a philosopher, an archaeologist of Roman Britain and a polymath, but is now largely forgotten by the public. He was born in Cartmel, Cumbria, his parents being William Gershom Collingwood (1854-1932) and Edith Collingwood. They were both considerable artists, Edith being a talented miniaturist and musician. William was also an archaeologist and (from 1905-11) Professor of Fine Art at Reading University. He had been John Ruskin's biographer and his last secretary until Ruskin's death in 1900. WG Collingwood's significance mustn't be underrated: Thomas Williams's recent book Viking Britain discusses WGC at some length but RGC doesn't even rate a mention. WGC taught his son Latin at the age of 4 and Greek at 6; he was very influential in his son's educational development. Robin Collingwood had three long-lived sisters who all enjoyed an extra 20 years of life: Barbara (1887-1961) an artist (daughter b.1926 → Janet Gnosspelius, sculptor d.2010). Dora (1886-1964) was also an artist who married Dr Ernest Altounyan and lived in Syria at one time (daughter → Mavis Guzelian artist, d.1998). Ursula (1891-1962) aka 'the Kid' ; she married Reggie Luard-Selby sometime the vicar of Ambleside and Troutbeck, and became a midwife. Remarkably both Dora and Barbara were proposed to by family friend Arthur Ransome, twice: neither accepted. Dora's offspring are the archetypes of the children in Swallows & Amazons. The Collingwoods were not a wealthy family although seemingly they had a cook and gardener. A close family friend, Miss Emma Holt, paid for Robin's education at Rugby School & University College, Oxford with money inherited from a Liverpool shipping firm. (I wish he could have sounded more grateful about that, but he did always try to win scholarships). He studied classics and philosophy ('Mods & Greats') at Oxford, and was extremely well read generally. He claimed in his Autobiography to have been a rebel at Rugby but these statements have not generally been taken at face value. Be that as it may he certainly seemed happy to remain an academic philosopher and rose to become a fellow of Pembroke College, and Waynflete professor of metaphysical philosophy at Oxford, for a few years before the Second World War. His worst enemy couldn't have denied that he was a prolific writer and a highly successful undergraduate teacher. His views were less influential among his own contemporary colleagues. In 1918 Collingwood married Ethel Winifred Graham (1885-1973) at Skipness, Argyll: they had a son (William Robert 'Bill') who committed suicide in 1975, and a daughter (Ursula Ruth Parry) who very sadly died in childbirth in 1943 shortly after her father's death. I am 1 sure that Collingwood would have felt that religion, and in his case the Christian religion, was at the heart of liberal and civilised life. That being the case in is surprising (to me at least) that Collingwood divorced in 1941 and the following year re-married Kathleen Frances 'Kate' Edwardes (1911-1980) an actress who was 20 years younger than him, and with whom he may have had a 'lengthy affair'. No biographical sketch I have read deals with this incident in any detail. They had a child Teresa in 1942. She is Teresa Smith, an Oxford academic, who is still living. As an example of how little this episode is discussed - in a recent re-issuing of the Autobiography many pages are spent discussing the book's publication history but Kate Edwards is briefly mentioned only once although, or perhaps because, one of the two editors is her daughter. The significance of this is that, after his death, some influential archaeological authorities may have been influenced in their negative opinions by their high regard for Ethel Collingwood. In some ways the reluctance to describe this romantic episode is faithful to Collingwood's own practice. His emotional life is almost entirely missing from his writings. At the end of his life Collingwood opposed fascism and the appeasement policy of the UK government (see Autobiography). Possibly his new political consciousness reflected the effect of his second wife's opinions. His views were seen as highly controversial at the time but now appears perfectly reasonable. It is a classic example of how the contemporary meaning of a text may not at all be the one intended by its original author. Collingwood died young at Ulveston, Lancs after a poorly explained illness (possibly repeated hypertensive strokes) towards the end of his life, say after 1938. He seems to have appreciated that he would not make old bones for in the last few years he went on boat trips to the Mediterranean and to Indonesia. He died in 1943 and is now buried at St Andrew's, Coniston with his first wife and daughter. My personal philosophical search Ideally I look for clear answers to several philosophical questions: • Is the external world real? • Do other minds exist aside from my own? • What is the nature of mind and what is its relation to the external world? • Can philosophy inform us about the ultimate nature of the universe? • Which is the proper question: 'why is the world the way it is' or 'why do we see the world the way we do'? (Kant) • Famously, according to Sir Francis Bacon, a jesting Pilate asked Jesus 'what is truth', but would not wait for an answer. So, 'what is truth'? • Does a desire to behave ethically have any philosophical basis? I find Chomsky's 'principle of universality' a good guide to any responsible ethical system but I have found it difficult to defend this rationally against the totally self-interested. What I find difficult is that highly able philosophers seem to have developed different 'world views', and don't seem to be able or willing to explain simply how they have come to totally different conclusions from other thinkers who are equally talented. Collingwood is no exception to this. His reputation as a philosopher rests on his thoughts about art, history and the nature of philosophy. There seem to be three 'schools' of philosophy relevant to Robin Collingwood's career: Realism: Knowing makes no difference to what is known, which continues independently. 2 Collingwood believed that to be logically certain of this statement you would need to know the state of 'that which is known' both before and after you knew it - to assess whether there had been any change. Clearly a logical impossibility. Personally I am bothered that everything we know about black holes depends ultimately on men and women in white coats looking at dials and perhaps it is as well that Collingwood didn't have to contend with quantum physics. To a Realist 'knowledge' effectively equaled scientific knowledge. Realism is uninterested in morals or the 'common good' which it reduces to psychological impulses. Collingwood was utterly opposed to these ideas and I can see that convinced realists must find it hard to explain what 'knowledge' or 'the mind' actually are. The now largely forgotten older contemporary of Collingwood's, HA Pritchard, was a noted realist philosopher at Oxford, and Professor of Moral Philosophy. The two men seem to have cordially hated each other. Collingwood considered that realists had developed highly effective techniques for criticising and undermining the beliefs of others, without introducing anything positive themselves. He regarded the influence of realism at Oxford to be 'pernicious and corroding'. He seemed to be concerned by the damage done by realism because he assumed that philosophy students would conduct their subsequent lives on the basis of the philosophical principles they had learned at Oxford. Personally I would need much convincing that taught philosophy has so much influence. Collingwood studied ethics, whereas Bertrand Russell wished to remove ethics from philosophy altogether: but they both left wives and went off with pretty girls. I fancy that logical positivist AJ Ayer did the same. Does belief really affect behaviour? Idealism: Reality, as humans experience it, is a fundamentally mental, or otherwise immaterial process. Idealism manifests as a scepticism about the possibility of 'knowing' any mind-independent thing. This idea would seem to be much closer to Collingwood's views; he would certainly have claimed that philosophy should be 'thinking about thinking'. But then it's hard to see how a thorough-going idealist could take much pleasure in history. Surely if questioning concerning the nature of the world is to make any sense as an activity then there must be something external to us about which such questions can plausibly be asked. For there to be knowledge there must be something to be known. Analytical language philosophy: Gilbert Ryle (who followed Collingwood as the Waynflete professor), Ludwig Wittgenstein and AJ Ayer are examples of this school. Such philosophers search for objects whose nature is neither physical nor mental, and ask 'what is the correspondence between language and the world'? Collingwood would have been disturbed by ALP's claims to moral neutrality and Collingwood did not believe the world could be made intelligible by 'analysing sentences'.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Studies on Collingwood, History and Civilization
    Studies on Collingwood, History and Civilization Jan van der Dussen Studies on Collingwood, History and Civilization Jan van der Dussen Heerlen , The Netherlands ISBN 978-3-319-20671-4 ISBN 978-3-319-20672-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20672-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015951386 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www. springer.com) Acknowledgements The following four essays are reproduced from their original publication.
    [Show full text]
  • A Judgement-Based Model of Workplace Learning 63 Volume 44, Number 1, April 2004
    Australian Journal of Adult Learning A judgement-based model of workplace learning 63 Volume 44, Number 1, April 2004 learning as an individual and social process (Illeris 2003). This paper offers a macro-level of analysis for social learning, especially in the context where there is no single, clearly identifi ed, correct response. Its origins lie in a model of workplace learning derived from Hager and Halliday (2002), who fi rst set out a relationship between context, judgement and learning. They saw learning as concerned with judgements that are potentially fallible but also contextually sensitive (Halliday & Hager 2002). Their central theme is a link between judgement and learning: ‘making judgements is a central holistic workplace activity that is the expression of practice-based informal learning from work’ (cited in Hager 2001, p.352). A judgement-based model of workplace learning These workplace-learning conceptions are directly related to all James A Athanasou adult, social learning and were translated into a testable Perceptual- University of Technology, Sydney Judgemental-Reinforcement model (Athanasou 2002) that is depicted in Figure 1. This representation emphasises the fact that learning encompasses judgements and is contextually dependent and The purpose of this paper is to outline a judgement-based model purposive, but the components and processes in the model described of adult learning. This approach is set out as a Perceptual- in this paper vary substantially in detail from the original Hager- Judgemental-Reinforcement approach to social learning under Halliday conceptions (Hager 2001; Hager & Halliday 2002). In this conditions of complexity and where there is no single, clearly paper, learning is defi ned both in its traditional and psychological identifi ed correct response.
    [Show full text]
  • Scales As a Symbol of Metaphysical Judgement – from Misterium Tremendum to Misterium Fascinosum an Analysis of Selected Works of Netherlandish Masters of Painting
    Santander Art and Culture Law Review 2/2015 (1): 259-274 DOI: 10.4467/2450050XSR.15.022.4520 VARIA Karol Dobrzeniecki* [email protected] Faculty of Law and Administration of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń ul. Władysława Bojarskiego 3 87-100 Toruń, Poland Scales as a Symbol of Metaphysical Judgement – from Misterium Tremendum to Misterium Fascinosum An Analysis of Selected Works of Netherlandish Masters of Painting Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyze the motif of scales in Netherlandish art from the 15th to the 17th century. The motif of scales was present in art from earliest times, but its role and func- tion differed in various historical epochs – antique, the middle ages, and the modern age. The core part of the article is devoted to the symbolic relationship between scales and different aspects of justice. The first painting taken into consideration is Rogier van der Weyden’s Last Judgment (approx. 1445 to 1450), and the last one – Jan Vermeer’s Woman Holding a Balance (approx. 1662-1663). The article attempts to answer some crucial questions. What were the meanings attributed to scales during the two centuries exam- ined? How did these meanings evolve, and was the interpretation of the symbol influenced by the ethos characteristic for particular peri- ods and geographical spaces, as well as transient fashions, religious * Karol Dobrzeniecki, Doctor of Law and art historian, currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Theory of Law and State, Faculty of Law and Administration of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland.
    [Show full text]
  • Nietzsche's Critique of Morality
    Nietzsche’s Critique of Morality A Resource for AS-Level and A-Level Philosophy This booklet is desiGned to help AS-level and A-level Philosophy teachers and students to develop This work is licensed under the the independent cri4cal arGumentaon required to earn the hiGhest marks. Creave Commons A2ribu4on-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit h2p://creavecommons.orG/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. The essays and exercises are desiGned to support work in two units of the curriculum: – Why Should I Be Moral? – Set text: Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil The work can be freely copied and distributed without prior permission, so lonG as it is not altered or used for commercial purposes. We also request that it is not made available throuGh any website The booklet is edited by Jonathan Webber and features work by philosophers at Cardiff University. apart from our own: h2p://bit.ly/cardiffphilosophyalevel Contents References The Disvalue of Morality The primary text discussed in this book is Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil. Simon Robertson 3 Quotaons are taken from the Oxford World’s Classics edi4on translated by Marion Faber, as specified in the AQA A-level Philosophy syllabus. References are Given by sec4on Does Nietzsche Think Values Are Merely Expressions of Personal Preference? number (not page number) prefaced by ‘BGE’. Alessandra Tanesini 5 Is Nietzsche Fair To Kant? Occasional reference is made to other works of Nietzsche’s. These are: Jonathan Webber 7 GM On the Genealogy of Morals: A Polemic, translated by DouGlas Smith.
    [Show full text]
  • On Kant's Transcendental Theory of Moral Judgement and Moral Worth
    On Kant’s Transcendental Theory of Moral Judgement and Moral Worth of Character, with Educational Implications* Abstract A longstanding absence from the critical scholarly literature on Kant’s writings on moral education is a comprehensive and systematic articulation of his views on moral education in light of his transcendental theory of moral reasoning and judgement. This theory primarily attempts to set out the a-priori requirements justifiable moral judgement and reasoning must satisfy when assessed by the Categorical Imperative (CI), primarily under its Universal Law formulation (FUL), and it offers an account of moral virtue as a character disposition to act in accordance with duty and from the motive of duty. While I occasionally make reference to other “equivalent” formulations of the CI offered by Kant, I argue that FUL rests at the core of Kant’s moral theory, defining the intrinsic worth of character dispositions for rational moral autonomy, serving as the necessary foundation for the other three equivalent formulations of the CI, and identifying what Kant maintains are our duties to others and ourselves as autonomous persons (ends in themselves). Despite recent appearances of a number of eminent scholarly studies of Kant’s views on moral education, we still lack a comprehensive and systematic account of the distinct nature of moral reasoning as governed by FUL, and the distinct virtue of character (“the good will”) that such reasoning and judgement displays. This paper offers an interpretation of the primary significance of the CI/FUL within Kant’s account of moral justification and moral worth of disposition (character). In articulating and illustrating the testing procedure the CI applies to maxims, I examine Kant’s famous example of the lying promise maxim, in an adapted version, and I explain two forms of validity that maxims in accordance with duty and acted on from duty must satisfy: objective universal validity and subjective universal validity.
    [Show full text]
  • Kant Critique Judgment German Text
    Kant Critique Judgment German Text When Thorny barley-sugar his winglet enjoin not eccentrically enough, is Reagan howling? Connivent Lothar countenanceprised very anticlimactically there when Cobb while roust Jamey his infortunes.remains dactylic and earthbound. Finer and asserting Romeo never What is UX Design? Cunha e filosofici del señor profesor immanuel kant? Although this retreat is normally understood sometimes the final attempt to seal philosophy from the. Lecciones sobre kant he did not a good job clarifying extremely simple games like immanuel kant researchers and gadamer, as she is a garage where all. Please select the critique and other. Kant text kant, judgments involved in de kant realized that. The Critique of Judgment German Kritik der Urteilskraft KdU or in about new. These experiences in general principles from hegel, there among natural operation we find such disputes inevitably end. Kant Critique of Practical Reason Cambridge Texts in legal History of Philosophy. It is interesting that include never described the dependence in modal terms. In kant text to accomplish a matter is much more radical doubts about which beauty. God as quickly, we take this ebook. Such a key to think about aesthetics and time: eesti raamat verlag nauka. La Religión dentro de los Límites de la Sola Razón. For a purpose that gave rise to the critique is not a purpose or quizzes yet some examples, the conclusions themselves are legitimate and others. Kant text kant had pretty bleak one. Aesthetic Judgment Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Kantian judgment could not be judgments are included are probably say we had to kant text, german texts from.
    [Show full text]
  • Living Hope and Creativity As Educational Standards of Judgement
    Educational Journal of Living Theories Volume 11(2): 27-64 Living Hope and Creativity as www.ejolts.net Educational Standards of Judgement ISSN 2009-1788 Moira Laidlaw Moira Laidlaw Abstract The Open University, This paper explains a transition between the writing of Milton Keynes, U.K. educational stories and harnessing their innate values within the work I am currently engaged in as a tutor at the Open University on a module for the Development Management M.Sc.. I offer two stories about my classroom-practice in the 1980s to illustrate the educational significance of creativity and hope as I perceive them now. I then show the development of my understanding of the educational processes involved in making links between hope and creativity and clarifying them as living educational standards of judgment and explanatory principles. I show how I use my understanding of hope and creativity in my present educational practices with two students and clarify further my understanding of the relational dynamic between hope and creativity as I continue to clarify and communicate their meanings as explanatory principles and living educational standards of judgment. Most significantly for this paper, I am claiming an epistemological significance in clarifying and communicating the relationally-dynamic meanings of hope and creativity that emerge from my practice. Copyright: © 2018 Laidlaw. This is an open access article This paper is also being presented as an expression of the hope distributed under the terms of I gain in working with colleagues through EJOLTS and to the Creative Commons celebrate its 10th Anniversary in 2018. Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and Keywords: Creativity; Hope; Living educational standards of reproduction in any medium, judgement; Forms of power; Relationally- provided the original author and dynamic epistemology; EJOLTS’ 10th Anniversary source are credited.
    [Show full text]
  • Kant and the Meaning of Existence: a Modal Account
    KANT AND THE MEANING OF EXISTENCE: A MODAL ACCOUNT by Ian Blecher , Yale University, 2000 , University of Pittsburgh, 2010 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of Pittsburgh 2012 ii UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Ian Blecher It was defended on August 2, 2012 and approved by John McDowell, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy Robert Brandom, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Nicholas Rescher, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy Marah Gubar, Associate Professor of English Dissertation Director: Stephen Engstrom, Professor of Philosophy iii KANT AND THE MEANING OF EXISTENCE: A MODAL ACCOUNT Ian Blecher, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2012 It is a distinctive claim of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason that what exists outside the mind is always represented under a modality — i.e. as possible, actual or necessary. The interest of this claim is not widely appreciated. Most commentators have ignored it; a few have rejected it out of hand. Since the Critique presents modality as a basic aspect of human knowledge, however, this is a serious oversight. My dissertation is an attempt to rectify it. The main idea is that, for Kant, the knowledge of what exists is connected with a certain kind of progress in the mind — a progress from the capacity to know (possibility) to the act of this capacity, (actuality), and finally to the perfection of that act (necessity). To the extent that the representation of this progress figures in our knowledge of what exists, such knowledge is thus at least implicitly modal.
    [Show full text]
  • Design Judgement: Decision-Making in the ‘Real’ World ◊
    erik stolerman, p.23-31 14/4/03 7:44 am Page 23 DESIGN JUDGEMENT: DECISION-MAKING IN THE ‘REAL’ WORLD ◊ HAROLD G. NELSON Advanced Design Institute, Seattle ERIK STOLTERMAN Umeå University esign is about creating the ‘real’ world around us. Real life is complex, dynamic and uncertain. D Truth is difficult enough to know, even with the best science, but ‘reality’, the domain of human experience, can be overwhelmingly paralysing and beyond comprehension or understanding. Careful, accurate description, concomitant with clear explanation, is necessary but not sufficient in the quest for enough understanding to allow wise decisions to be made. The value of judgement is that it allows individuals to overcome their paralysis and engage with the messy complexity of life in a way that, when done well, can bring function, beauty, and meaning to human existence. In this paper we will examine judgement, particularly design judgement. We argue that a better understanding of judgement is needed if we want to improve our design ability in an intentional manner. Judgement is a key dimension in the process of design. The ability to make design judgements is what distinguishes a designer as a designer. The ability to make good design judgements distinguishes good design. INTRODUCTION and paradoxical. This results in the formation of meaning Design judgement holds many things in common with the and value by engendering relationships of unity, form, other categories of judgement, but the outcome or end is pattern and composition. Judgement is a process of taking distinct because design judgement facilitates the ability to in the whole in order to formulate a whole.
    [Show full text]
  • Short Philosophical Essays* (1851) Chapter XXVIII
    Space for Notes ↓ Arthur Schopenhauer Parega and Paralipomena: Short Philosophical Essays* (1851) Chapter XXVIII On Education § 372 In consequence of the nature of our intellect, concepts should arise through abstraction from intuitive perceptions, and hence the latter should exist before the former. If this course is actually taken, as is the case with the man who has for his teacher and book merely his own experience, then he knows quite well what intuitive perceptions there are which belong to, and are represented by, each of his concepts. He knows both exactly, and accordingly deals accurately with everything that happens to him. We can call this way the natural education. On the other hand, with artificial education, the head is crammed full of concepts by being lectured and taught and through reading, before there is yet any extended acquaintance with the world of intuitive perception. Experience is then supposed subsequently to furnish the intuitive perceptions to all those concepts; but until then, the latter are falsely applied and accordingly people and things are judged from the wrong point of view, seen in the wrong light, and treated in the wrong way. In this manner, education produces distorted and biased minds, which is the reason why in our youth, after much learning and reading, we enter the world partly as simpletons and partly as cranks, and then behave nervously at one moment and rashly at another. For our minds are full of concepts which we now attempt to apply, but almost invariably introduce in an ill-judged and absurd way. This is the consequence of that ϋστєρον πρότєρον1 whereby we obtain first of all concepts and last of all intuitive perceptions, in direct opposition to the natural course of our mental development.
    [Show full text]
  • Judgement and Adjective Complementation Patterns in Biographical Discourse: a Corpus Study
    Judgement and Adjective Complementation Patterns in Biographical Discourse: A Corpus Study by HANG SU A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics School of English, Drama, American & Canadian Studies College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham July 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis, drawing on insights from Appraisal Theory, Pattern Grammar and Corpus Linguistics, explores the association between grammar patterns and attitudinal meanings. Particular attention is paid to adjective complementation patterns and Judgement, i.e. the ethical evaluation of human behaviour and character. Using a corpus compiled of biographical discourse, this study addresses four research questions: 1) whether the current JUDGEMENT system is sufficiently comprehensive and systematic to deal with the Judgement resources identified in this corpus, 2) what insights a detailed scrutiny of adjective-in-pattern exemplars can offer into the description and characterisation of attitudinal resources, 3) how local grammars of evaluation can be developed with the help of grammar patterns, and 4) what local grammars of evaluation may be useful for.
    [Show full text]
  • On Aesthetic Judgement and Our Relation to Nature: Kant's Concept
    Inquiry, Vol. 49, No. 6, 547–572, December 2006 On Aesthetic Judgement and our Relation to Nature: Kant’s Concept of Purposiveness FIONA HUGHES University of Essex, UK (Received 19 July 2006) ABSTRACT I offer a critical reconstruction of Kant’s thesis that aesthetic judgement is founded on the principle of the purposiveness of nature. This has been taken as equivalent to the claim that aesthetics is directly linked to the systematicity of nature in its empirical laws. I take issue both with Henry Allison, who seeks to marginalize this claim, and with Avner Baz, who highlights it in order to argue that Kant’s aesthetics are merely instrumental for his epistemology. My solution is that aesthetic judgement operates as an exemplary presentation of our general ability to schematise an intuition with a concept at the empirical level. I suggest that this counts as an empirical schematism. Although aesthetic judgement is not based on empirical systematicity, it can nevertheless offer indirect support for the latter in so far as it is a particular revelation of purposiveness in general. One of the most problematic theses of Kant’s already demanding Critique of Judgement is his claim that aesthetic judgement is based on the principle that we can presuppose an order in the range of empirical laws. While this is a position that many have found both unintuitive and impossible to defend, it does at least have the interest of suggesting that aesthetic judgement stands in a more than contingent relation to experience in general. In contemporary Kant scholarship, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world, it has become the norm to either ignore or reject a link that appears to be ridden with problems.
    [Show full text]