Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

177332

From imagination to the parafinite

pp. 1-46

Abstract

In this chapter, I begin with a consideration of the sublime in Kant's philosophy and Shelley's poetry. In both cases the sublime is associated with the power of active imagination, but I show that behind the active imagination lies a more fundamental source which I call the parafinite or indefinitely large. In Kant's philosophy this manifests itself most fundamentally in the notion of egological self-positioning, and in Shelley in the notion of Power. I develop and compare both of these fundamental expressions of the parafinite as grounds for paraphysics, understood in the present context as the visionary critique of metaphysics.

Publication details

Published in:

(2018) Kant, Shelley and the visionary critique of metaphysics. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 1-46

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-77291-2_1

Full citation:

(2018) From imagination to the parafinite, In: Kant, Shelley and the visionary critique of metaphysics, Dordrecht, Springer, 1–46.