The Philosophical Review/Volume 1/Summary: Pfeifer - Der aesthetische Contrast in den Erscheimmgen des Erhabenen
This connects with a preceding article (Bd. II, pp. 164 ff.) on aesthetic contrasts. In the case of the sublime, contrast is especially significant. Kant maintains (Critique of Judgment, sect. 27) that in the apprehension of the sublime, imagination and reason come into conflict, since the sublime object surpasses the capacity of the imagination, but conforms to the reason. While he finds this contrast a subjective one, the writer tries to show that in all cases, but especially in those of moral sublimity, it has an objective reality. Such a conflict as Kant finds, while possibly existent elsewhere, certainly does not appear in the cases of moral sublimity, for in such cases the imagination has no incentive to attempt aesthetic appreciation, and thus to run counter to reason. Rather do our sympathy on the one hand, and our reason on the other, arouse conflicting feelings, which represent and reproduce the objective contrast.