Kant’s distinction between the beautiful and the sublime is very similar to the division Nietzsche makes between the Apollonian and Dionysian tendencies in art. They both claim that there are aesthetic experiences that are oriented towards a form or rational ideal (Nietzsche believes this ideal to be a dream), but there are also aesthetic experiences that expose man to limitlessness and formlessness. However, Kant and Nietzsche are not going to agree on what an aesthetic experience of the limitless and formless will inspire in us. Kant makes a division between the beautiful and the sublime on the basis of where the beauty in each is found. For the beautiful, beauty is present insofar as the art represents a form. This beauty is created by
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Dreams are the construct of our imagination, whereas the Dionysian is the “world of intoxication” (Handout). The Dionysian tendency is all about intoxication, meaning loss of the sense of self. Essentially the Dionysian tendency strives against the Apollonian, pushing us away from “all the rigid, hostile barriers that necessity, caprice, or ‘impudent convention’ have fixed between man and man” (Handout). Similarly to Kant’s sublime, the Dionysian is about a loss of limitations in the face of something awe-inspiring. Nietzsche believes that when we experience a work of art that is truly Dionysian, it will strike us so powerfully that we will lose any sense of ourself as an individual and simply recognize the whole of humanity which experiences this art the same way. The best example of this is a concert, because when a whole crowd of people is moved towards the Dionysian by overwhelming music, they do not have the awareness to be considering their own personhood and rationality, they simply dance, jump, or mosh their way through the experience, existing more as one united crowd than a collection of distinct individuals. The sublime and the Dionysian, thus are similar in that they are both aesthetic experiences that overwhelm a person with awe, but Kant and Nietzsche interpret the effects of a sublime experience quite differently. Kant thinks that, …show more content…
The interesting turn that Kant makes is when he shifts this recognition of our own power into a recognition of God’s power. Kant says that reflecting on our own power must lead us to some understanding of “that Being [God] which inspires deep respect in us” (122). Kant simply thinks that by recognizing our own power as beyond and above nature, we in some way recognize God’s power as beyond and above us. He does not think that the sublime necessarily implies God, but rather that it tells us something about God in a way that the beautiful does not, because the beautiful is a product of our intellect and the sublime is a reflection on our own
Dreams are the construct of our imagination, whereas the Dionysian is the “world of intoxication” (Handout). The Dionysian tendency is all about intoxication, meaning loss of the sense of self. Essentially the Dionysian tendency strives against the Apollonian, pushing us away from “all the rigid, hostile barriers that necessity, caprice, or ‘impudent convention’ have fixed between man and man” (Handout). Similarly to Kant’s sublime, the Dionysian is about a loss of limitations in the face of something awe-inspiring. Nietzsche believes that when we experience a work of art that is truly Dionysian, it will strike us so powerfully that we will lose any sense of ourself as an individual and simply recognize the whole of humanity which experiences this art the same way. The best example of this is a concert, because when a whole crowd of people is moved towards the Dionysian by overwhelming music, they do not have the awareness to be considering their own personhood and rationality, they simply dance, jump, or mosh their way through the experience, existing more as one united crowd than a collection of distinct individuals. The sublime and the Dionysian, thus are similar in that they are both aesthetic experiences that overwhelm a person with awe, but Kant and Nietzsche interpret the effects of a sublime experience quite differently. Kant thinks that, …show more content…
The interesting turn that Kant makes is when he shifts this recognition of our own power into a recognition of God’s power. Kant says that reflecting on our own power must lead us to some understanding of “that Being [God] which inspires deep respect in us” (122). Kant simply thinks that by recognizing our own power as beyond and above nature, we in some way recognize God’s power as beyond and above us. He does not think that the sublime necessarily implies God, but rather that it tells us something about God in a way that the beautiful does not, because the beautiful is a product of our intellect and the sublime is a reflection on our own