Kant and Metaphor in Contemporary Aesthetics

Abstract

My research examines metaphor as a transformational process that is central to knowledge, and seeks to show how a philosophical analysis of metaphor can further inform our understanding of its role in knowledge. In this article I consider metaphor in relation to Kant’s impact on contemporary aesthetics. In part 1, I give a brief explanation for the popularity of metaphor as a research area, and suggest that much of the thinking behind this research can be traced back to Kant. I also highlight the role metaphor plays in contemporary aesthetics, and identify ways in which the metaphoricity of art contributes to its critical or discursive impetus. Part two locates the origins of this critical, metaphorical aesthetic in Kant's Critique of Judgement. Kant’s argumentation in the third Critique, I show, is heavily dependent on metaphor, to the extent that his philosophy cannot be rendered systematic without it. The research value of the article is that it demonstrates the importance of metaphorical imagery to systematic thought, and the importance of Kant for an appreciation of how aesthetic experience can contribute to knowledge. Kantian Review is the journal of the UK Kant Society, with an international readership and an editorial board made up of academics from the UK, the USA, and continental Europe. The article was written at the invitation of the journal's editor as one of a series of three articles assessing Kant's influence in contemporary epistemology, ethics and aesthetics. Mine covered aesthetics. The invitation was also an opportunity for me to study in detail the role of transformation (as metaphor) in Kant’s aesthetics.