Kant on Genius: The Critique of Judgment — Transcript

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1. 0:00I'm philosophy professor and co-host of
2. 0:01overthink podcast Ellie Anderson here to
3. 0:04share some ideas from K's theory of
4. 0:06Genius which he develops in his third
5. 0:08critique the critique of judgment if you
6. 0:11want more on this especially in an audio
7. 0:12format we have an episode of overthink
8. 0:14on genius where we talk about K's View
9. 0:17and the view of others including
10. 0:18critiques of it that podcast is also
11. 0:20where I get to share more of my opinions
12. 0:22on the topic whereas this is an
13. 0:25introductory video presenting kant's
14. 0:27ideas for K genius is the talent he says
15. 0:31that gives the rule to
16. 0:33art by Talent K means a natural
17. 0:37endowment something that you either have
18. 0:40or don't Talent he says is innate it is
19. 0:43an innate productive faculty or mental
20. 0:46aptitude for Kant Talent is given by
21. 0:50nature and so genius is not something
22. 0:53that you can develop it's either
23. 0:57something that you're born with or
24. 0:59you're not now you can already see how
25. 1:01this view of Genius is very similar to
26. 1:03the one that we have today in fact
27. 1:05kant's view has been hugely influential
28. 1:08for subsequent philosophy after the time
29. 1:10that he's writing it in the late 18th
30. 1:12century now his second definition of
31. 1:15genius beyond the first that I started
32. 1:17with that genius is the talent that
33. 1:19gives the rule to Art KH also says in
34. 1:21the third critique that another way of
35. 1:24thinking about genius is as the innate
36. 1:26mental aptitude through which nature
37. 1:30gives the rule to Art so the difference
38. 1:32between the first two definitions is
39. 1:34that the first is talking about uh
40. 1:36genius as a talent that gives the rule
41. 1:38to Art whereas the second definition is
42. 1:41defining genius as the talent through
43. 1:44which nature gives the rule to Art so
44. 1:47there's a greater role there that is
45. 1:49being given to Nature either way and
46. 1:51especially in the second definition
47. 1:53though there's a sense that the genius
48. 1:55is not something who has the sheer
49. 1:57willpower to create a great work but
50. 1:59rather is the vehicle or vessel through
51. 2:02which great work is being created and
52. 2:05you can think for instance about that
53. 2:07ancient notion of the muses um the the
54. 2:10Muse as something that overtakes you
55. 2:13it's kind of similar really to what Kant
56. 2:15is thinking about here as genius for
57. 2:19Kant one of the funny things about Fine
58. 2:21Art is that it can't give rules for
59. 2:24producing art right like I can't say
60. 2:27here are the rules you should follow in
61. 2:31order to create a beautiful work of art
62. 2:34but there has to be a rule that deems
63. 2:36that something is Art and Fine Art Kant
64. 2:39says is actually only possible as a
65. 2:42product of Genius because genius is what
66. 2:44gives the rule to Art itself so the
67. 2:47genius has a really crucial role to play
68. 2:50in his philosophy of art this as you can
69. 2:54imagine um has has been the sight of
70. 2:57some critiques Kant thinks that only
71. 2:59certain people can be Geniuses he
72. 3:01actually doesn't think that women can be
73. 3:02Geniuses this is something that we talk
74. 3:03about in the podcast episode so I'd
75. 3:05recommend checking that out if you're
76. 3:06interested in hearing more especially
77. 3:08about the critiques of this view of
78. 3:10Genius but in K's view back to the sort
79. 3:13of description of it he says that there
80. 3:15are a number of properties of the genius
81. 3:19the first is that the genius is original
82. 3:21they have a talent for producing what no
83. 3:24definite rule can give think about the
84. 3:26fact that many artists Pride themselves
85. 3:29on never having been to art school never
86. 3:31gone through rigorous training or even
87. 3:33those that have take for an example
88. 3:36Picasso who was deeply schooled in uh
89. 3:40traditional modes of painting and
90. 3:42drawing had to kind of throw away the
91. 3:45rule book When creating his mature works
92. 3:48the works that we might call works of
93. 3:50genius and so genius is this talent for
94. 3:53being able to throw the rule book away
95. 3:55and create a new rule once this has been
96. 3:58done another property of Genius which
97. 4:01Kant identifies is that the genius is an
98. 4:03Exemplar which means that a work of
99. 4:05Genius provides a model for other works
100. 4:08it provides a standard or a rule for
101. 4:11estimating
102. 4:12art that is not everything that is
103. 4:15original is good there can be original
104. 4:17works of nonsense as well and so what
105. 4:19the genius does is create an original
106. 4:21work that has like I said sort of thrown
107. 4:23the rule book away or played on it in a
108. 4:26unique original and novel way but done
109. 4:28so in an exemplary fashion this doesn't
110. 4:32mean that other beautiful works of art
111. 4:34can be created by just copying the
112. 4:36genius's work but it is exemplary in the
113. 4:38sense that it is creating a new rule
114. 4:40providing a model to others but a model
115. 4:42in the sense that other works should be
116. 4:45judged in comparison to it rather than
117. 4:48oh an artist can just copy this exact
118. 4:50thing that Picasso is doing and then
119. 4:51also have a beautiful work of art an
120. 4:53additional property of Genius that Kant
121. 4:55talks about is that genius is natural
122. 4:59the genius I think this is a really
123. 5:00interesting part of K's Theory cannot
124. 5:02actually scientifically say how it
125. 5:05created the work of art if I ask an
126. 5:08artist well what were you thinking when
127. 5:10you created this amazing work um you
128. 5:13know they they'll have some things to
129. 5:14say about it presumably but those things
130. 5:16aren't going to encapsulate what is
131. 5:19beautiful about the work of art and why
132. 5:20the work of art is as incredible as it
133. 5:23is genius gives the rule to Art Kant
134. 5:27says as nature so recall that idea that
135. 5:31I mentioned earlier that uh genius in
136. 5:34one of K's definitions is that through
137. 5:37which nature gives the rule to Art so
138. 5:40this again this idea that the that
139. 5:43genius gives the rule to art as nature I
140. 5:45think is more or less the idea that
141. 5:47nature is working through the genius
142. 5:49rather than uh the genius having a full
143. 5:52Mastery or sense of what they're doing
144. 5:54when they're doing it you see so many
145. 5:58creators say time and time again that
146. 6:00when they're in the midst of of a
147. 6:02creative
148. 6:03process it's almost as if their self
149. 6:05gets out of the way and something else
150. 6:07takes over there is a momentum of its
151. 6:10own that emerges when when people are
152. 6:12creating these
153. 6:13Works Kant says that the genius in this
154. 6:16vein does not know how the ideas for a
155. 6:19work enter into their head they can put
156. 6:21themselves in the way of inspiration But
157. 6:24ultimately true inspiration is something
158. 6:26that takes you over um that is that ins
159. 6:29spiration from within to use the the
160. 6:31Latin origin of
161. 6:34inspire this also means that the genius
162. 6:37cannot create a work at will
163. 6:39methodically I think about this when I'm
164. 6:41thinking about the the paralysis that
165. 6:43artists sometimes feel say in trying to
166. 6:46come up with a concept for a second
167. 6:47album because they know that they can't
168. 6:50just recreate what they have done uh in
169. 6:53their first album or even if they're not
170. 6:55recreating it they can't just use that
171. 6:57as an exact model that they want to
172. 6:59reproduce and a fourth property of
173. 7:01Genius as Kant defines it is that
174. 7:04Geniuses are
175. 7:07artistic for Kant there are only
176. 7:10artistic Geniuses Einstein would not be
177. 7:14considered a genius according to kant's
178. 7:16view because you can't according to him
179. 7:19have a scientific genius science can be
180. 7:23learned whereas art cannot and so this
181. 7:27innate talent that one has or does have
182. 7:29for giving the rule to Art is something
183. 7:31that is specific to art for K let's dive
184. 7:36into this a little bit more deeply
185. 7:37because it's very odd at first and you
186. 7:39know you don't have to agree with it but
187. 7:41um hereo kant's reasons for saying this
188. 7:43so in saying that science can be learned
189. 7:46Kant is
190. 7:47suggesting that science involves
191. 7:51imitation because learning for him is
192. 7:53imitative I learn by being taught by
193. 7:56other people by imitating their ways of
194. 7:58doing things right like I'm going to
195. 8:00imitate the scientific method or I'm
196. 8:01going to get a sense from my teachers of
197. 8:03what a proper experiment might look like
198. 8:06but the genius cannot teach
199. 8:09genius nor can the
200. 8:11student become a genius by imitating
201. 8:14genius because the genius themselves
202. 8:16does not know how their ideas come about
203. 8:20so to have a genius as a teacher is not
204. 8:24going to be very helpful on cons view
205. 8:26because the genius's work can provide
206. 8:28exemplars certain but that Exemplar is
207. 8:30not going to be a model that you can
208. 8:32just copy nor is it going to be
209. 8:33something that the genius can fully
210. 8:35explain in a satisfying way because
211. 8:37again they've been overtaken by uh
212. 8:40nature as they're producing their work
213. 8:42of art thus the product of Genius should
214. 8:45not be imitated but it can Inspire
215. 8:48another genius to a sense of their own
216. 8:51originality because the work of the
217. 8:52genius and this goes back to the idea
218. 8:54it's
219. 8:55exemplary demonstrates freedom in art by
220. 8:58giving the rule to Art um The Genius is
221. 9:03engaged in a radical expression of their
222. 9:05own freedom and this can be inspiring
223. 9:08for other Geniuses even though one
224. 9:10genius isn't strictly speaking teaching
225. 9:13another
226. 9:14genius for Kant genius is necessary in
227. 9:18order to produce a beautiful work of art
228. 9:20so all works of art that are beautiful
229. 9:23according to Kant are the products of
230. 9:25Genius Geniuses can make something
231. 9:28beautiful that in nature is ugly so
232. 9:32think about any movies or albums or
233. 9:36novels or paintings or what have you
234. 9:38that take something that is ugly in life
235. 9:42but transpose it into this domain of art
236. 9:45such that it becomes beautiful that
237. 9:48forant that the successful
238. 9:49accomplishment of that is indicative of
239. 9:51Genius taste estimates beautiful art it
240. 9:55judges beautiful art and genius produces
241. 9:59is it good taste cannot itself produce
242. 10:02art and so you can also see here that
243. 10:04Kant is implying a strong separation
244. 10:07between the Observer of art or the
245. 10:09critic of Art and the genius or the
246. 10:11creator of art even a really good critic
247. 10:14is not necessarily going to be a genius
248. 10:17Kant states that the genius is quote the
249. 10:20exemplary originality of the natural
250. 10:22endowments of an individual in the free
251. 10:25employment of his cognitive faculties
252. 10:27end quote there's lots more to say about
253. 10:29the genius here for instance we haven't
254. 10:31talked about uh aesthetic ideas which is
255. 10:34a component of it or this idea of a
256. 10:36definite concept of the product which is
257. 10:38also characteristic of the genius
258. 10:40imagination there's so much more to say
259. 10:42here but hopefully this has provided an
260. 10:44invitation and an introduction to some
261. 10:46of kant's key ideas about the genius
262. 10:49check out our Channel and overthink
263. 10:50podcast if you want more