In a judgement by which anything is designated simply as great, it
is not merely meant that the object has a magnitude, but that this
magnitude is superior to that of many other objects of the same kind,
without, however, any exact determination of this superiority. Thus
there is always at the basis of our judgement a standard which we
assume as the same for every one; this, however, is not available for
any logical (mathematically definite) judging of magnitude, but only
for aesthetical judging of the same, because it is a merely subjective
standard lying at the basis of the reflective judgement upon
magnitude. It may be empirical, as, _e.g._ the average size of the men
known to us, of animals of a certain kind, trees, houses, mountains,
etc. Or it may be a standard given _a priori_, which through the
defects of the judging subject is limited by the subjective conditions
of presentation _in concreto_; as, _e.g._ in the practical sphere, the
greatness of a certain virtue, or of the public liberty and justice in
a country; or, in the theoretical sphere, the greatness of the accuracy
or the inaccuracy of an observation or measurement that has been made,
etc.
Here it is remarkable that, although we have no interest whatever in an
Object,--_i.e._ its existence is indifferent to us,--yet its mere size,
even if it is considered as formless, may bring a satisfaction with it
that is universally communicable, and that consequently involves the
consciousness of a subjective purposiveness in the use of our cognitive
faculty. This is not indeed a satisfaction in the Object (because
it may be formless), as in the case of the Beautiful, in which the
reflective Judgement finds itself purposively determined in reference
to cognition in general; but [a satisfaction] in the extension of the
Imagination by itself.
If (under the above limitation) we say simply of an object “it is
great,” this is no mathematically definite judgement but a mere
judgement of reflection upon the representation of it, which is
subjectively purposive for a certain use of our cognitive powers in
the estimation of magnitude; and we always then bind up with the
representation a kind of respect, as also a kind of contempt for what
we simply call “small.” Further, the judging of things as great or
small extends to everything, even to all their characteristics; thus
we describe beauty as great or small. The reason of this is to be
sought in the fact that whatever we present in intuition according to
the precept of the Judgement (and thus represent aesthetically) is
always a phenomenon and thus a quantum.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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