Why did Kant think judgments of beauty are both subjective and universal?

In his Critique of Judgment, Immanuel Kant addressed the paradox of taste, which posits that aesthetic judgments are simultaneously subjective and universal.12

Kant argued that judgments of beauty are subjective because they are rooted in an immediate, sensory experience of pleasure. Unlike scientific or logical judgments, they are not based on concepts, arguments, or practical interests; one cannot be "talked into" finding something beautiful through proof.132

However, these judgments also claim universal validity. Kant explained this by noting that when we contemplate an object and find it beautiful, we experience a "free play" between our cognitive faculties—specifically the imagination and the understanding. Because these faculties are common to all rational beings, we feel that our delight is not merely a personal preference but something that others, insofar as they are rational, ought to share. Thus, while the judgment originates in a subjective feeling, it is expressed as if beauty were an objective quality of the object, demanding universal assent.1243