The Sublime And The Beautiful Essay - 1662 Words

Kant describes the sublime as the opposite of the beautiful, namely in the way in which we originally experience a moment of displeasure from it unlike the beautiful. As well splitting the aesthetic experience into the beautiful and the sublime, he further separates the sublime into the mathematically sublime and the dynamically sublime. Both of which have to do with the vast size and overwhelming power of nature itself. The importance of the sublime as evidenced by Kant’s description of both the mathematically sublime and the dynamically sublime is the power which human beings and thus human reasoning have over nature, despite the feeling of being overwhelmed by it and the inability of our imaginations to comprehend it. You cannot discuss the sublime without mentioning it’s â€Å"counterpart† the beautiful. The concept of the beautiful and the sublime was first developed by philosopher Edward Burke in his 1757 book ‘Philosophical Inquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful’. And then in 1790 through his book ‘Philosophical Inquiry’, Kant further distinguished the differences between the two. One of the major differences between the beautiful and the sublime is that while beauty is inseparable from pure form, the sublime is strictly formless. Judgements of what is considered to be beautiful is usually surrounded by feelings of positivity and direct pleasantness. Take for example the painting by John William’s in 1872 titled Niagara Falls. The tone ofShow MoreRelatedThe Sublime And The Beautiful1457 Words   |  6 Pageswritings on aesthetics such as 1756 A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and t he Beautiful. In the Enquiry of the Sublime and the Beautiful, Edmund Burke explores the origins of our ideas of the sublime and the beautiful and separates each into their own respective rational categories. For Burke, the beautiful is that which is well formed and aesthetically pleasing, while the sublime (which Burke positions as being the trigger for the strongest of emotions one is capableRead MoreLove Is The Beautiful And Sublime Love977 Words   |  4 Pagesthe authors that we looked at throughout the course of the semester, I was able to draw up my own concept of love. My concept of love includes that there are two different types of love and this idea is taken from Kant’s idea of love being beautiful and sublime and the fair sex and noble sex. The other author that presents two different types of love is Augustine, he presents the bodily and spiritual love and with these two concepts of love I was able to develop my own concept of love, that thereRead MoreA Philosophical Enquiry Into The Origin Of Our Ideas Of The Sublime And Beautiful Essay1443 Words   |  6 PagesIn A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful Edmund Burke writes, â€Å"It is the nature of grief to keep its object perpetually in its eye, to present it in its most pleasurable views, to repeat all the circumstances that attend to it†. Burke’s writing attempts to clarify the â€Å"pictorial, literary, cultural, economic and psychological† phenomenon of sublimity, explicating the ways in which power, vastness, obscurity and beauty intersect to form emotional responseRead MoreA Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful: Edmund Burke1299 Words   |  6 Pagesone of the great aesthetic categories traditions will be discussed: the sublime, starting from one of the most influential texts in the history of aesthetics published in 1757 by Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Id eas of the Sublime and Beautiful -a curious essay on the fundamentally political career of its author that will mark a turning point in the later reflections on the category of the sublime- and make a brief historical and philosophical journey through the termRead MoreThe Sublime Is Defined By Edmund Burke, Arthur Schopenhauer, And Immanuel Kant973 Words   |  4 PagesIn aesthetics, the sublime is defined as â€Å"the quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual, or artistic.† The term is used to describe greatness beyond any possibility of quantification, imitation, or containment. The sublime has been a topic in philosophical discussions since Ancient times, first studied by Longinus. Since then, many great philosophers such as Edmund Burke, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Immanuel Kant have pressed the concept furtherRead MoreThe Theme Of Sublime Nature In Frankenstein By Mary Shelley863 Words   |  4 PagesIn the novella Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses geography to further the plot, reveal the true intentions of characters and convey the novella’s theme of sublime nature. The theme of sublime nature is the idea that nature is comprised of a mixture of terror and beauty. One example of sublime nature supported by geography is the monster, which is truly a terror in appearance and spirit being born in Ingolstadt. Shelly contrasts this â€Å"terror† of Ingolstadt to the beauty of Geneva, Frankenstein’s birthplaceRead MoreCritique of Judgement Summary829 Words   |  4 Pagesimagination and understanding when perceiving an object. Kant distinguishes the beautiful from the sublime. While the appeal of beautiful objects is immediately apparent, the sublime holds an air of mystery and ineffability. While a Greek statue or a pretty flower is beautiful, the movement of storm clouds or a massive building is sublime: they are, in a sense, too great to get our heads around. Kant argues that our sense of the sublime is connected with our faculty of reason, which has ideas of absolute totalityRead MoreReflective Essay On The Sublime1247 Words   |  5 Pageswanted a purpose for the sublime, I wanted to know the value in experiencing it. And now that Kant created this dichotomy between beautiful and sublime, why would anyone ever choose the sublime? Beauty to me means joy, tranquility, and love, the sublime means confusion and fear. â€Å"[I]f you have the choice to just be happy, why pick anything else? I’m not saying, â€Å"Oh just be in a good mood†, I’m saying, why spend your limited time and energy seeking the bittersweet of the sublime?† I got a bit of an answerRead MoreSublime In Frankenstein Essay1497 Words   |  6 Pagesgiving connotations of ghostly castles and supernatural events. The Sublime experience as stated by the critic Longinus is, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a matter of treatment. The particular form of the sublime experience that requires prepossessing objects is not only the form; it is simply the form in which enthusiasm preponderates over irony [1] . The Castle of Otranto is the first Gothic novel written by Horace Walpole in which the idea of the Sublime is presented through its physical, transcending and overpowering imageryRead MoreCritical Analysis of Romanticism1387 Words   |  6 Pagesnature and Romantic sublime. The paper will be organised and divided into two sections . The first section will outline a range of scholarly definitions of Romantic sublime and its main purpose of use in Romanticism. The second section will critically analyse theoretical approaches and debates on Romantic natu re. The literature review will also compare and contrast different methodologies used by the critics when discussing the major concerns of Nature and the Sublime. When appropriate