On Kant’s view what are the features of a work of genius? Explain.

In order to better understand and describe the features of a work of genius in accordance with Kant’s view, we need to look at what and who a genius is. Kant’s notion of a genius is someone who has been blessed with an innate talent, which is naturally endowed. It is through this genius whom “nature gives the rule to art,” meaning to say that this innate talent accords him with the ability to produce art that are in accordance to nature’s rules. However, this ability can neither be learnt nor imitated; even these natural rules that govern the genius’ work of art cannot be transmitted, communicated and taught. This seems paradoxical in so far as there is a need for rules and yet the rules are so elusive and exclusive, so much so that the genius seems to be the only person capable of conveying these rules of nature. When a genius dies, this ability dies along with him. There is no way of ensuring the preservation of his skills and abilities through understudy whatsoever. It seems then that we will see the next genius only when nature decides to endow someone else with this talent.

To complicate matters, these “natural rules” are very much unlike the typical rules of science or mathematics. Scientific and mathematical rules are both empirical and observable in nature and can therefore be proven by following an often well-established set of laws. Natural rules on the contrary, are difficult to elucidate. This is to such an extent that even the genius is unable to explain how these original and exemplary ideas are formed in his head in the first place. An example in case is that Newton, who discovered the laws of gravity, is not someone Kant considers a genius despite his intellectual prowess because he is able to clarify and impart his knowledge and thus explain how he arrived at the discoveries. Hence, the primary feature of the work of a genius is that it is original and cannot be imitated.

It thus follows that even the cleverest and brightest of students can never be considered geniuses because what they are essentially doing is learning and imitating. An imitation of a genius’ work, regardless of how similar the works are and how talented the copying artist is, is not considered a work of art of a genius. Other than having to be original, the works of a genius will have to be able to serve as an example that fully reflects the rules that govern it; it cannot be an original piece of random nonsense. His work must also incite the viewers’ imagination and engage them in cognitive thoughts and ideas. In fact, this example is all that another genius has available to him as a model and guide as to what constitutes a genius and to inspire how his works should be like.