Kant - Critique of the Aesthetic Power of Judgment - Essay Example

According to Kant, an individual judges the taste of an object in line to the level of satisfaction that is achieved in the use of the object (Kant 118). This satisfaction is said to reside in the beauty of the object. The satisfaction that is achieved in the use of an object is normally accompanied with an individual’s assent. In this sense, it is assumed that the level of satisfaction which is achieved is objective. Kant illustrates that the satisfaction which is achieved through an object varies from one individual to another.

This means that what is considered to be satisfying by one person may be unsatisfactory to another. It is due to the above claim that Kant says that an objective approach in the used of an object is valid in determining the level of satisfaction which is achieved by the user or consumer of the object. This implies that when an object is being consumed, the objective of the consumer in the use of the object plays a role in defining if it is satisfactory or not. If an individual says that a given flower is very beautiful, it is a claim which implies that the flower will satisfy everybody.

Kant critiques this argument by saying that the pleasantness of an object such as this flower is not likely to satisfy all people equally (Kant 119). If an individual is satisfied by a smell by considering it pleasant, the same smell may give another person a headache. According to these claims therefore, the beauty of a flower is just one of its properties and the manner in which it is received and experienced by different people varies in accordance to the perception which emanates from their senses.

Therefore the satisfaction that is achieved by the smell of the flower is not accommodative of the different tastes among different people because of the following reasons. Firstly, the experiences of people vary which influences the manner