Kant on Poetry and Cognition

This paper lies at the intersection of two problems: one concerning the cognitive status of poetry and one concerning the proper interpretation of Kant’s theory of fine arts. I bring these two together by arguing that Kant was highly sensitive to the cognitive potential of poetry, despite his explicit endorsement of formalism. Therefore, turning to his theory can help us understand one particular way in which poetry fosters our cognitive engagements with the world. As an illustration of my account of Kant’s views on poetry, I offer an interpretation of Robert Frost’s poem “A Question.”