Abstract
The concept of spirit developed by Kant on the Critique of Judgement may bring to memory the idea of a je ne sais quoi, spread across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, which occupied a relevant position on the aesthetic thought of that period. The “Garden of je ne sais quoi”, allegorical place created by Marivaux, is one of the most precious testimonies of that idea. The present essay proposes a rereading of the 49th paragraph of Kant’s third Critique, relating it with the thinkers and poets who have found on je ne sais quoi a privileged way of expression. We will try to show how Kant’s concept of spirit revisits the je ne sais quoi, becoming another path to Marivaux’s garden.