While reading the explorative piece regarding the nature of taste and criticism that is A.O. Scott’s “Better Living through Criticism”, I gravitated towards one major figure that A.O. Scott mentions on a multitude of occasions: Immanuel Kant. As someone who takes an avid interest in philosophical dilemmas and texts, I wanted to uncover more about Kant’s writings and teachings and why, perhaps, Scott uses him as a prime example of taste and attraction. Kant had three major literary texts published that have remained vital in the philosophical realm of text: the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), the Metaphysics of Morals (1797), and the Critique of Judgment (1790). Scott focuses on the Critique of Judgment which mainly centers around aesthetics and the human mind’s attraction to objects of mental calmness. Although the piece of literature also touches on science and teleology, its most memorable comments are those on our ability to simply appreciate beauty without needing to posses a reasoning for it. He also discusses the differences between the beautiful and the sublime; he discusses the nature of beauty being immediately apparent while the nature of the sublime holds an aura of mystery and titillation. The sublime usually originates from concepts and ideas that we as humans can not fully wrap our heads around which permits emotions of confusion, amazement, and attraction to reside. A.O. Scott also emphasized a point about art that is incredibly important and interesting to think about. Art and ones attraction to colors and shapes is perhaps one of the most difficult things to discuss. When talking about discussion of criticism and judgment, A.O. Scott states that “Art is not sex carried out by other means, but it seems to be subject to similar anxieties and taboos. ‘Talking in bed ought to be easiest,’ Larkin observed in a later poem, and talking about art ought to be even easier”. (Scott, 80) The point emerges that the piece of art should in fact speak for itself in terms of beauty and significance, but it still does not stop us as a society from demanding reasoning behind ones belief of beauty or of disgust. This exact point is why reading “Better Living through Criticism” is as compelling as it is. It is written by A.O. Scott, a man with the vocation of criticism and judgment. He has spent his entire life expanding on self-judgment and criticism and providing explanation to these opinions. My reading so far has led me to ponder the following: what gives him the right? What gives A.O. Scott’s opinion a hierarchical superiority over the rest of human judgment? Perhaps nothing truly does, but his eloquence and vocabulary as well as his very hard headed personality has allowed him to climb the ranks of critique and judgment. Of course, I do not know much about A.O. Scott and his style of criticism, but as I’ve followed critics in the past from the likes of Anthony Fantano, Roger Ebert, and Gene Shalit, I have begun to observe and comprehend the patterns that make a good entertainment critic. My Commonplace Book puts an immense focus and Immanuel Kant and why A.O. Scott would attempt to conjure his teachings when discussing the idea of criticism and judgment.
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Avsha WeinbergArchives
November 2019
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