summary of Kant and the Capacity to Judge by Beatrice Longuenesse:

Beatrice Longuenesse’s Kant and the Capacity to Judge offers a detailed and insightful analysis of one of Immanuel Kant’s central philosophical concerns: the nature of human judgment. Longuenesse argues that Kant’s philosophy, particularly in the Critique of Judgment, presents judgment as a distinct and foundational cognitive capacity that mediates between understanding and reason, bridging the gap between the rules of conceptual thought and the openness of aesthetic and teleological experience. She emphasizes that judgment is not merely a passive faculty of perception but an active process that allows humans to organize, interpret, and give coherence to their experience of the world. In the aesthetic realm, judgment manifests as the ability to discern beauty, not through fixed rules but through the harmonious interplay of imagination and understanding, enabling a reflective engagement with objects that transcends purely subjective preference. In the teleological and moral spheres, judgment permits humans to make sense of nature and action in terms of purposes, allowing for reasoned deliberation and ethical evaluation. Longuenesse highlights the continuity in Kant’s work between cognitive and moral capacities, showing that judgment is essential for both scientific reasoning and practical decision-making. She also situates Kant’s theory within broader philosophical debates about universality, normativity, and the human ability to navigate contingent circumstances. Overall, the book demonstrates that, for Kant, the capacity to judge is central to human autonomy and the pursuit of knowledge, providing the cognitive and moral infrastructure for understanding both the natural world and ethical life.