The relation of the imagination and the infinite in Kant’s transcendental philosophy from the perspective of the analytic of the sublime

Abstract

This paper points out the relation between the notion of the sublime and the notion of the infinite in Kant’s transcendental philosophy. In Kant the philosophical functions of the sublime can be related to the notion of the infinite as an idea. The paper investigates whether the imagination can be extended by the infinite, as this is not evident from Kant’s definition of the sublime. Also, the paper addresses the problem if the infinite has a role beyond the purely aesthetic dimension of Kantian philosophy.