Ugliness in Kant's aesthetics: for systematizing "aesthetics of ugliness"

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23001
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0101:Philosophy, art, and related fields
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University
• Principal Investigator: TAKAGI Shun 一橋大学, 大学院社会学研究科, 研究補助員 (90843863)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 美学 / 哲学 / カント / 醜の美学 / 感情 / 認識論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, according to Kant's aesthetic theory of the Critique of the Power of Judgment (1790), we tried to elucidate what kind of types ugliness has and how those types of ugliness relate to each other. The purpose of this study was preparing for systematizing "aesthetics of ugliness".
When we judge that something is ugly, we have a kind of feeling of displeasure at the object. Firstly, this study classified feeling of displeasure in some types, then following those types classified ugliness.
It is our state of mind which consists of our cognitive faculties (imagination and understanding) that generate feeling of displeasure. Based on the functioning of our cognitive faculties, this study elucidated a part of relation and system of various types of feeling of displeasure and ugliness.

Free Research Field

美学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、これまで「美しさの美学理論」として研究されてきた、『判断力批判』に代表されるI. カントの美学を、「醜さの美学理論」として捉え直すという独創的な学術的意義を持つ。また、単に一種類の醜さの概念だけでなく、複数の醜さとそれらの関係性を問題にする本研究には、私たちが素朴に直面する醜さやそれに関連する表象が何であるのか、直感的なものを学術的に明らかにするという社会的意義をあげることもできる。