the critique of judgement-第43章
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the psychic substance (Seele)…the material which it employs for that purpose…is that which sets the mental powers into a swing that is final; i。e。; into a play which is self…maintaining and which strengthens those powers for such activity。 Now my proposition is that this principle is nothing else than the faculty of presenting aesthetic ideas。 But; by an aesthetic idea I mean that representation of the imagination which induces much thought; yet without the possibility of any definite thought whatever; i。e。; concept; being adequate to it; and which language; consequently; can never get quite on level terms with or render completely intelligible。 It is easily seen; that an aesthetic idea is the counterpart (pendant) of a rational idea; which; conversely; is a concept; to which no intuition (representation of the imagination) can be adequate。 The imagination (as a productive faculty of cognition) is a powerful agent for creating; as it were; a second nature out of the material supplied to it by actual nature。 It affords us entertainment where experience proves too commonplace; and we even use it to remodel experience; always following; no doubt; laws that are based on analogy; but still also following principles which have a higher seat in reason (and which are every whit as natural to us as those followed by the understanding in laying hold of empirical nature)。 By this means we get a sense of our freedom from the law of association' (which attaches to the empirical employment of the imagination); with the result that the material can be borrowed by us from nature in accordance with that law; but be worked up by us into something else…namely; what surpasses nature。 Such representations of the imagination may be termed ideas。 This is partly because they at least strain after something lying out beyond the confines of experience; and so seek to approximate to a presentation of rational concepts (i。e。; intellectual ideas); thus giving to these concepts the semblance of an objective reality。 But; on the other hand; there is this most important reason; that no concept can be wholly adequate to them as internal intuitions。 The poet essays the task of interpreting to sense the rational ideas of invisible beings; the kingdom of the blessed; hell; eternity; creation; etc。 Or; again; as to things of which examples occur in experience; e。g。; death; envy; and all vices; as also love; fame; and the like; transgressing the limits of experience he attempts with the aid of an imagination which emulates the display of reason in its attainment of a maximum; to body them forth to sense with a completeness。 of which: nature affords no parallel; and it is in' fact precisely in the poetic art that the faculty of aesthetic ideas can show itself to full advantage。 This faculty; however; regarded solely on its own account; is properly no more than a talent' (of the imagination)。 If; now; we attach to a concept a representation of the imagination belonging to its presentation; but inducing solely on its own account such a wealth of thought as would never admit of comprehension in a definite concept; and; as a consequence; giving aesthetically an unbounded expansion to the concept itself; then the imagination here displays a creative activity; and it puts the faculty of intellectual ideas (reason) into motion…a motion; at the instance of a representation; towards an extension of thought; that; while germane; no doubt; to the concept of the object; exceeds what can be laid hold of in that representation or clearly expressed。 Those forms which do not constitute the presentation of a given concept itself; but which;。 as secondary representations of the imagination; express the derivatives connected with it; and its kinship with other concepts; are called (aesthetic) attributes of an object; the concept of Which; as an idea of reason; cannot be adequately presented。 In this way Jupiter's eagle; with the lightning in its claws; is an attribute of the mighty king of heaven; and the peacock of its stately queen。 They do not; like logical (aesthetic) attributes of an object; the concept of the sublimity and majesty of creation; but rather something else…something that gives the imagination an incentive to spread its flight over a whole host of kindred representations that provoke more thought than admits of expression in a concept determined by words。 They furnish an aesthetic idea; which serves the above rational idea as a substitute for logical presentation; but with the proper function; however; of animating the mind by opening out for it a prospect into a field of kindred representations stretching beyond its ken。 But it is not alone in the arts of painting or sculpture; where the name of attribute is customarily employed; that fine art acts in this way; poetry and rhetoric also drive the soul that animates their work wholly from the aesthetic attributes of the objects…attributes which go hand in hand with the logical; and give the imagination an impetus to bring more thought into: play in the matter; though in an undeveloped manner; than allows of being brought within the embrace of a concept; or; therefore; of being definitely formulated in language。 For the sake of brevity I must confine myself to a few examples only。 When the great king expresses himself in one of his poems by saying:
Oui; finissons sans trouble; et mourons sans regrets; En laissant l'Univers comble de nos bienfaits。 Ainsi l'Astre du jour; au bout de sa carriere; Repand sur l'horizon une douce lumiere; Et les derniers rayons qu'il darde dans les airs Sont les derniers soupirs qu'il donne a l'Univers;
he kindles in this way his rational idea of a cosmopolitan sentiment even at the close of life; with help of an attribute which the imagination (in remembering all the pleasures of a fair summer's day that is over and gone…a memory of which pleasures is suggested by a serene evening) annexes to that representation; and which stirs up a crowd of sensations and secondary representations for which no expression can be found。 On the other hand; even an intellectual concept may serve; conversely; as attribute for a representation of sense; and so animate the latter with the idea of the supersensible; but only by the aesthetic factor subjectively attaching to the consciousness of the supersensible being employed for the purpose。 So; for example; a certain poet says in his description of a beautiful morning: 〃The sun arose; as out of virtue rises peace。〃 The consciousness of virtue; even where we put ourselves only in thought in the position of a virtuous man; diffuses in the mind a multitude of sublime and tranquillizing feelings; and gives a boundless outlook into a happy future; such as no expression within the compass of a definite concept completely attains。*
*Perhaps there has never been a more sublime utterance; or a thought more sublimely expressed; than the well…known inscription upon the Temple of Isis (Mother Nature): 〃I am all that is; and that was; and that shall be; and no mortal hath raised the veil from before my face。〃 Segner made use of this idea in a suggestive vignette on the frontispiece of his Natural Philosophy; in order to inspire his pupil at the threshold of that temple into which he was about to lead him; with such a holy awe as would dispose his mind to serious attention。
In a word; the aesthetic idea is a representation of the imagination; annexed to a given concept; with which; in the free employment of imagination; such a multiplicity of partial representations are bound up; that no expression indicating a definite concept can be found for it one which on that account allows a concept to be supplemented in thought by much that is indefinable in words; and the feeling of which quickens the cognitive faculties; and with language; as a mere thing of the letter; binds up the spirit (soul) also。 The mental powers whose union in a certain relation constitutes genius are imagination and understanding。 Now; since the imagination; in its employment on behalf of cognition; is subjected to the constraint of the understanding and the restriction of having to be conformable to the concept belonging' thereto; whereas aesthetically it is f