Now that my lecture notes for the second Kant lecture are
complete, I have turned my thoughts to the third lecture, which will deal with
the Transcendental Aesthetic. The concept of intuition is
of course central to that passage, and although it was a familiar philosophical
term in Kant's day [intuitio], it does not today have anything like the
same meaning. Kant for the most part talks about sensible
intuition, but I need to explain as well the even more obscure notion of intellectual
intuition, which Kant, Spinoza, and many other philosophers of that period
attribute to God. How to explain the notion of intuition that is active
rather than passive, intellectual rather than sensible, creative rather than
receptive?
It occurred to me that one lovely way is by allusion to one
of Handel's most exquisite arias, "Where'er I walk" from the opera Semele.
Jupiter has taken the mortal Semele as a lover, and when she aspires to see him
in his true form [which would kill her, as indeed it does eventually] he seeks
to divert her with earthly pleasures. You can hear the aria sung beautifully here. The words are:
Where'er you walk
Cool gales shall fan
the glade
Trees where you sit
shall crowd into a
shade
Trees where you sit
shall crowd into a
shade
Where'er you
tread
the blushing flowers
shall rise
and all things
flourish
and all things
flourish
Where'er you turn
your eyes
Where'er you walk
Cool gales shall fan
the glade
Trees where you sit
shall crowd into a
shade
Trees where you sit
shall crowd into a
shade.
The point is that because he is a God, indeed the most
powerful of the Gods, his words are not a promise of cool
gales and blushing flowers, they are the creation of these
delights. For Jupiter, to form the image of something is to bring it into existence. His intuition is intellectual.
My only problem is that I have no way of playing it for my
class. How I wish I had a beautiful tenor voice!
Dr. Wolff,
ReplyDeleteYou wrote:
"but I need to explain as well the even more obscure notion of intellectual intuition, which Kant, Spinoza, and many other philosophers of that period attribute to God. How to explain the notion of intuition that is active rather than passive, intellectual rather than sensible, creative rather than receptive?"
I believe describing intellectual intuition would be like describing the difference between a man's finite intellect and God's infinite mind. I mean how could a First Cause of all things think before it caused time to exist? Perhaps Kant would say that we could describe an infinite mind in the realm of appearances but not how it truly is in reality. The real definition and understanding of intellectual intuition would always escape us then.
How about bringing your laptop to class, loading your page and then clicking "here"?
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I have solved the problem. I downloaded the aria from YouTube and I can play it even though I do not have internet access in the lecture [because I am not a member of the faculty and do not have an account.] So I shall indeed play [a part] of the aria!
ReplyDeleteYou needn't go to that much trouble. A link in the comments of youtube should suffice =]
ReplyDelete