Thierry de Duve: An Aesthetics between Kant and Foucault

Abstract

The following article exposes the way by which Kant´s aesthetics reflexions and Foucault´s archaeological thought are used by the philosopher and art historian Thierry de Duve, in order to develop an original theory about art in modernity. The core of his reflexion is to propose that, since 19th century, the distinction between ‘art” and “non art” could be generated by an aesthetic judgment, analogous to the Kantian “Judgement of the Beauty”. In this case, “this is beautiful” could be replaced by “this is art” or “this is not art”. Analysing his theory, this essay suggests that it should be reformed to go further than an “archaeology of modernism”, reaching the concepts of Foucault’s genealogy. Therefore, the aesthetic judgement could be understood as a kind of dispositive, a specific apparatus capable of articulating knowledge and power in singular ways.