Abstract

This paper offers a critical exposition of the role of matter and the material aspects of aesthetic experience and works of art in Kant's 'Critique of Judgment'. It proceeds to discuss the role of 'earth' in Heidegger's discussion of the nature of the work of art and materialist themes in some of Deleuze and Guattari's texts on art. The extent to which the problems surrounding Kant's treatment of the material dimension of aesthetic experience and art are addressed and overcome in the texts of Heidegger and Deleuze/Guattari is considered.