038--Giving the Idea to Art: Kant, the Genius, and Prog Rock

This episode explores the notion of genius and Immanuel Kant's concept of the aesthetic idea. The aesthetic idea is shown to be the distinguishing element that differentiates natural beauty from art beauty. Progressive Rock is then discussed as a genre that self-consciously courts the label of genius and takes seriously the espousal of ideas (aesthetic and otherwise). "Pantagruel's Nativity" and "Black Cat" by Gentle Giant are discussed along with a brief overview of "Supper's Ready" by Genesis.  The episode art is a photo of Genesis at the Verizon Center taken by Andrew Bossi, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons