Human Ability and the Self
Abstract This book begins with Immanuel Kant’s distinction regarding the transcendental capacities of the human being, examining the relationships between different capacities and types of judgment. By investigating the relationship between various capacities and feelings within aesthetic judgment, as well as the question of how aesthetic judgment is possible, the author argues that although the human being only formally touches upon the supersensible substrate through aesthetic judgment, this process nevertheless indicates the possibility of free existence. The work further explores the possibility of a real world of freedom demonstrated by nature as an internal system of purposiveness and the interconnection of the powers of judgment. Finally, by integrating Marx’s early discourses on sensuous cognition and sensuous labor, the book further demonstrates that the human being is essentially inseparable from practical activity and is a concrete existence in a socio-historical sense.
About the Author Wang Xiaohong, born in June 1973, holds a PhD in Philosophy and is a researcher at the Institute of Marxism Studies (马克思主义研究院) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Freiburg in Germany and the University of Chicago in the United States. Her research interests include Continental European philosophy and Marxist philosophy, and she has published numerous articles and translations.
Table of Contents Chapter 1: The Chasm Between Things and Their Nature Section 1: The Basis for the Logical Trichotomy Section 2: The Capacity of Understanding and the Capacity of Reason Section 3: Concepts of Understanding and Ideas Section 4: The Realization of the Supersensible Idea—Freedom
Chapter 2: Judgment and the Power of Judgment Section 1: Judgment and Two Kinds of Truth Section 2: Analytic Judgments, Synthetic Judgments, and Synthetic A Priori Judgments Section 3: Two Kinds of the Power of Judgment Section 4: The Power of Judgment and Understanding
Chapter 3: Regulative Principles and the Principle of Reflective Judgment Section 1: The Regulative Principle of Reason—Systematic Unity Section 2: Constitutive Reflective Judgment Section 3: Regulative Reflective Judgment Section 4: The Principle of the Reflective Power of Judgment
Chapter 4: Sensuous Capacity and the Judgment of Beauty Section 1: Several Concepts of the Sensuous Section 2: The Relationship Between Various Capacities and Feelings Section 3: The Judgment of Beauty
Chapter 5: The Supersensible Existence Toward Which Judgments of Taste Point Section 1: The Pure Form of Beauty and the Existence of Things Section 2: The Mathematically Sublime—Judgments of the Sublime, Part I Section 3: The Dynamically Sublime—Judgments of the Sublime, Part II
Chapter 6: How Judgments of Taste are Possible Section 1: How is a Judgment of Taste Proceeding from Feeling Possible? Section 2: Genius—The Protector and Guide Section 3: Beauty is More Than Just a Symbol of Morality
Chapter 7: The Natural World Section 1: Nature, the Concept of Nature, and the Concept of Freedom Section 2: The Intelligible World, Intelligible Nature, and Supersensible Nature Section 3: Undetermined Nature
Chapter 8: Nature as an Internal System of Purposiveness Section 1: Teleology, Natural Science, and Theology Section 2: Teleological Judgment as Reflective Judgment Section 3: Two Kinds of Purposiveness Section 4: Things of Nature and Products of Art
Chapter 9: The World Indicated by the Connection of the Powers of Judgment Section 1: The Connection Between the Principle of Mechanism and the Teleological Principle Section 2: Two Kinds of Practice Section 3: The Created World Inhabited by Humanity as the Final Objective
Chapter 10: Phenomenon and Essence Proceeding from the Sensuous in Marx’s Doctoral Dissertation Period Section 1: From Sensuous Phenomena to Atomic Motion Section 2: The Implementation of the Principle of Contradiction—Externalized Quality and Atomic Properties [1] Section 3: Phenomenon and Essence Section 4: Time and Phenomena
Chapter 11: Sensuous Labor and the Essence of the Human Being Section 1: The Concept and Meaning of the Sensuous in Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 Section 2: Craftsmanship [2] and Practice Section 3: Externalization and Alienation Section 4: The Essence of Labor and the Essence of the Human Being
Main Bibliography