Critical Aesthetics

In this essay, I discuss Baumgarten’s neglected doctrine of taste. In particular I investigate his definition of taste as the judgment of the senses against the backdrop of the philosophical debate of his day (Muratori, Du Bos), pointing out the biblical and classical sources of the idea of a judging aisthesis. In addition, I analyze the radical change that the definition of taste as the judgment of the senses brings about in the idea of both taste and the judgment of the senses with regard to Wolff. Highlighting the link with the issue of analogon rationis and beauty, I conclude that the concept of taste is at the core of Baumgarten’s new aesthetic project