Undesirable Beauty

Of course Arthur has not been writing it down.

Never mind, says Kant. I'd only just started.

So what was the topic again? asks Sweezus.

Go and order a drink and a toastie, says Kant. I'll wait for you to come back.

Sweezus goes to the counter to order a glass of cider and a cheese toastie.

He comes back and sits down.

I was explaining the judgement of beauty as a basic dichotomy, says Kant. 

Okay, says Sweezus. Go ahead.

Arthur smirks behind the crust of his toastie.

On the one hand, says Kant, our judgements are based on a feeling.

Like what? asks Sweezus. 

This much should be obvious, says Kant. Take a beautiful woman. 

Nice, and what's on the other hand? asks Sweezus.

Shit! He should be writing this down.

Or at least recording it. He takes out his phone.

On the other hand, judgements of beauty are not like judgements of the agreeable, says Kant.

How come? asks Sweezus. 

Insofar as they do not involve desire for the object, says Kant.

That explains my cheese poem, says Arthur.

Yeah, what cheese poem? asks Sweezus.

Cheese extends in rubber sinews, with each cruel bite, says Arthur.

That's good, says Sweezus. Kind of. But it's put me off eating my toastie.

Told you that explained it, says Arthur.  

Sweezus's cider and toastie arrive.

Eat, says Kant. Don't think too hard about my philosophy. My ideas on aesthetics are perhaps not my best ones.

Probably made more sense at the time, says Sweezus. 

Good of you to say so, says Kant.

Where do you reckon I could buy a jumper in Goolwa? asks Sweezus, biting into his toastie.

Jumper? says Arthur.

Gaius reckons I should buy myself a jumper, says Sweezus.

Google a surf shop, says Arthur. 

The weather may be changing, says Kant. The clouds are breaking up.

Yeah maybe I won't need a jumper, says Sweezus. 

I suppose we should be getting back to the beach to help Gaius, says Kant.

By the way, Roo-kai's back, says Sweezus.

That's good, says Arthur.

Roo-kai? says Kant.

Terence's parrot, says Sweezus.

I'm fond of parrots, says Kant. They have beautiful feathers.

Beautiful. This sets Sweezus thinking about Kant's dichotomy. So the agreeable in Kant's view is desirable, and the beautiful is not. Has he got it wrong? Yeah, and he probably ought to tell Kant that Roo-kai's not an actual parrot.