On the Sublime and Beautiful
Quick Summary
Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) explores the aesthetic concepts of the sublime and the beautiful. The work distinguishes between these two qualities, suggesting that the beautiful is associated with pleasure, smallness, smoothness, and delicacy, while the sublime is linked to pain, vastness, ruggedness, and power, evoking awe and terror. Burke's treatise was influential in the development of modern aesthetics, particularly in Britain, and was recognized by thinkers like Denis Diderot and Immanuel Kant. The concept of the sublime, in literary criticism, refers to a grandeur of thought and spirit that evokes ecstasy.1234
Ask Britannica AI about this topic
Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.
aestheticsThree approaches to aestheticsIn his famous treatise On the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), Edmund Burke attempted to draw a distinction between two aesthetic concepts and, by studying the qualities that they denoted, to analyze the separate human attitudes that are directed toward them. Burkeās distinction between the sublime and the beautiful wasā¦
Read MoreIn his famous treatise On the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), Edmund Burke attempted to draw a distinction between two aesthetic concepts and, by studying the qualities that they denoted, to analyze the separate human attitudes that are directed toward them. Burkeās distinction between the sublime and the beautiful wasā¦
Read More- aestheticsMajor concerns of 18th-century aesthetics
Burkeās famous work, On the Sublime and Beautiful, has already been discussed. Its influence was felt throughout late 18th-century aesthetics. For example, it inspired one of Kantās first publications, an essay on the sublime. Treatises on beauty were common, one of the most famous being The Analysis ofā¦
Read MoreBurkeās famous work, On the Sublime and Beautiful, has already been discussed. Its influence was felt throughout late 18th-century aesthetics. For example, it inspired one of Kantās first publications, an essay on the sublime. Treatises on beauty were common, one of the most famous being The Analysis ofā¦
Read More