The Romantic structure of Kant's conception of the judgment of beauty

The theme of this dissertation is Kant's conception of judgments of beauty and three central problems that it raises. The first problem concerns the appropriateness of conceiving these judgments to be, in Kant's technical sense, necessary and universally valid, and conceiving them to be subjective (subjective on the grounds that they are putatively based on no determinate concepts or rules, but only on the judge's direct experience of the object). The second problem concerns the viability of deeming a judgment based only on the judge's own experience to be nonetheless necessary and universally valid. A third problem associated with Kant's conception of aesthetic judgments arises from the fact that it seems to violate requirements on judgment stipulated in his theory of knowledge. In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant argues that the pure, determinate concepts of understanding are the necessary conditions of any judgment. The fact that judgments of beauty, in his conception of them, are not based on these concepts generates the third main problem linked to this conception.;The aim of this dissertation is to advance an interpretation that solves these three central problems. First, I present and defend Kant's reasons for thinking that aesthetic judgment has the paradoxical character of being subjective yet necessary and universally valid. Second, I explain how this judgment is nonetheless possible. Third, I show how this judgment is compatible with the conditions for objective judgments, which Kant lays down in his theory of knowledge. I achieve this task by demonstrating that Kant's conception of the judgment of beauty is characterized by five characteristics that the Early Jena Romantics (Fruhromnatik), particularly Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis, ascribe to Romantic Poesie. I accordingly aim to show that the judgment of beauty in Kant's account is---in a manner analogous to Romantic Poesie---a holistic, open-ended, reciprocal, necessary and free judgmental activity. Interpreting Kant's conception of the judgment of beauty along these Romantic lines is, I argue, not only faithful and suitably generous to Kant's intentions but also provides a compelling solution to the three main problems generated by his aesthetics.