Poetry as Knowledge: On Baumgarten's and Kant's Aesthetic Cognitivism

It is commonly acknowledged that art can have cognitive value, either because it is seen as a form of understanding or because it is seen as having the capacity to prompt cognitive activity. What remains controversial, however, is whether that value contributes to (or interacts with) a work’s artistic value and what kind of knowledge art can convey. The paper approaches this topic by examining some aesthetic conceptions formulated by Baumgarten – as well as the reception of an aspect of his theory in Kant’s conception of art. The resurfacing of Baumgarten’s perceptiones praegnantes in Kant’s aesthetic ideas is examined. The paper focuses on poetry, broadly understood, since the main subject of Baumgarten’s theory is the structure of literary discourse, and Kant ascribes to poetry “the highest rank of all” among the arts. However, the basic claims that are put forward apply to aesthetic knowledge as a whole.