A Reexamination of the Sublime in Kant’s Aesthetics—Based on Wang Weijia’s “Gracefulness and the Sublime: A Critique of Kant’s Aesthetic Power of Judgment”

在康德美学中，崇高备受关注且争议颇多。学界对其地位看法不一。传统研究多聚焦于康德的数学崇高与力学崇高的二元分类，但这种分类在解释崇高与美、道德的关系时存在一定局限性。王维嘉在《优美与崇高：康德的感性判断力批判》中，将崇高细分为数学崇高、物理崇高、自由崇高和自然崇高。这一分类不仅丰富了崇高的内涵，还为理解其在美和道德之间的桥梁作用提供了新框架。本文基于此再分类，深入探讨崇高在美和道德之间的联结作用，进行逻辑分析和重要性验证，并通过对审美与道德实践活动的对比分析，揭示四类崇高在沟通美与道德中的必要性和重要性。同时，从判断力批判的多元目的、美与崇高在愉悦层面的差异等角度，强调崇高在康德美学体系中的地位和价值，期望为康德美学研究提供新视角。In Kant’s aesthetics, the sublime has drawn extensive attention and sparked considerable debate, with divergent academic views on its status. Traditional research has primarily focused on Kant’s binary classification of the mathematical sublime and dynamical sublime, yet this framework has limitations in explaining the relationships among the sublime, beauty, and morality. In “Gracefulness and the Sublime: A Critique of Kant’s Aesthetic Power of Judgment”, Wang Weijia subdivides the sublime into four categories: the mathematical sublime, physical sublime, free sublime, and natural sublime. This reclassification not only enriches the sublime’s connotation but also provides a new framework for understanding its role as a bridge between beauty and morality. Building on this categorization, this paper deeply explores the sublime’s connecting function between beauty and morality, conducting logical analysis and verifying its significance. Through a comparative analysis of aesthetic and moral practices, it reveals the necessity and importance of the four subcategories in bridging beauty and morality. Additionally, from the perspectives of the Critique of the Power of Judgment’s pluralistic objectives and the hedonic differences between beauty and the sublime, this study underscores the sublime’s status and value within Kant’s aesthetics system, aiming to offer a new perspective for Kant’s aesthetics research.