Kant's Aesthetic Reading of Aristotle's "Philia": Disinterestedness and the Mood of the Late Enlightenment

Abstract

This article roots Kant's concept of disinterestedness, as he uses it in the Critique of Judgment, in Aristotle's notion of philia by establishing a path from ethics to aesthetics and back. In this way, the third Critique turns out to be one of the main sources for a new ideal of humanity: the ideal suitable for late Enlightenment. This article argues that Kant reaches this fruitful use of disinterestedness by giving to Aristotle's concept of philia an aesthetic turn.