This essay is from our Anastasis Series where we resurrect articles from the past that are either still relevant today or can be easily updated. This piece, first published in May 2013 as a series of six. The six different pieces have been combined into a single essay, edited, and
*Read this series from the beginning.* Kant’s distinctions about the sublime, and, in fact, the two forms of sublime Mathematical and Dynamical, are extremely nuanced and cannot be fully addressed here. But, there are some important points which help lead to the Axis Theory’s understanding of sublime. Kant begins his
*Read this series from the beginning.* If ugly is the ontological opposite of pretty then disgust maybe the ontological opposite of beauty. Kant closely ties the concepts of disgust and ugly. However, while Kant is ambiguous about ugly he clearly locates disgust within the imagination, as is beauty. He claims
Human Drapery 3 by Jordan Wade *Read this series from the beginning.*Â Historically beauty and aesthetics go hand in hand. The question of beauty is the primary question of aesthetics. In the Thomist tradition, beauty is considered a transcendental with concepts such as the good and the true. If this
Leonardo daVinci, Grotesque Head, c. 1480-1510 Red chalk on paper, 17.2 x 14.3 cm Windsor Castle, Royal Library *Read this series from the beginning.*Â Ugly is the ontological opposite of pretty and fills the other side of the Sensual Axis. Where pretty causes sensual delight the ugly causes sensual discomfort.
Thomas Kinkade, The Cross, April 2010 *Read this series from the beginning.* Kitsch Kitsch is often very clearly linked with the pretty. Certainly, that is the case with the work of Kinkade. Roger Scruton says, “The world of kitsch is a world of make-believe, of permanent childhood, in which every
*Read this series from the beginning.*Â Axis Theory The Axis Theory takes cues from historic conceptions of the sublime and the beautiful, especially Kant, and seeks to harmonize those terms with contemporary usage and my own intuition. As is demonstrated in the diagram, the Axis Theory envisions ugly, pretty, beauty,
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