The aim of this paper is to examine Kant’s definition of the beautiful as that what pleases without interest in the light of the criticisms proposed by Johann Gottfried Herder, former student of the philosopher. The discussion of these objections, contained in Kalligone, Herder’s last work, not only highlights the proper sense in which Kant understands his thesis according to which the satisfaction of the beauty is entirely disinterested, but it also let reconstruct Kant’s main argument for the mentioned thesis.