In this post, notes of “Unit 1: Edmund Burke : “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful”” from “DSC- 9: Literary Criticism” are given which is helpful for the students doing graduation this year.
Part 1: Section VII, Section XVIII
1. Section VII: Of the Sublime
What is the Sublime?
In Section VII of A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful, Edmund Burke discusses the sublime. The sublime is a feeling that causes awe, fear, or deep respect, often from things that are very large, impressive, or powerful. Burke describes the sublime as something that creates strong feelings of admiration or fear that can be overwhelming. Examples of the sublime include powerful storms, huge mountains, or the endless sky.
Difference Between the Sublime and the Beautiful:
Burke clearly separates the sublime from the beautiful. The beautiful is linked to feelings that are pleasant and harmonious, making people feel love and admiration. In contrast, the sublime is about stronger feelings like fear and awe. While beauty makes us feel calm, the sublime can be scary or overwhelming. Burke points out that the sublime is often tied to things that are vast and powerful, while the beautiful is more about smallness and harmony.
How the Sublime Affects Emotions:
Burke explains that the sublime has a strong impact on our emotions. There is a contradiction: the sublime can be enjoyable even if it causes fear. This happens because when we are safely distant from something frightening, it can increase our sense of wonder. The sublime brings out intense feelings that are not easily described by normal ideas of beauty. The overwhelming nature of the sublime makes us feel small or weak, which can create a pleasurable sense of awe.
2. Section XVIII: The Recapitulation
Main Points from Part 1:
In Section XVIII, Burke reviews the main ideas of his work about beauty and the sublime. He repeats that these two ideas are different: beauty is about pleasure and harmony, while the sublime is about power and awe. He notes that the feelings caused by the sublime are stronger and more complicated than those caused by beauty. He also emphasizes that the sublime is often tied to fear, which can make it more appealing.
Reinforcing the Differences:
Burke restates the difference between the sublime and the beautiful, showing how each affects our feelings in different ways. Beauty brings calmness and love, while the sublime creates intense emotions—often a mix of fear and admiration—that can be overwhelming. Burke insists that while both beauty and the sublime are important experiences, they are not the same, and understanding this helps us better respond to art and nature.
Why Understanding the Sublime Matters:
Burke concludes by highlighting the importance of understanding the sublime in art. The sublime is key to our emotions and how we express ourselves artistically. It’s not just a theory; it’s crucial for how we experience the world. He believes that recognizing the sublime helps us appreciate the emotional richness of art, nature, and life. Studying the sublime can also enhance our understanding of beauty since both shape how we see and feel about the world around us.
Overall, these sections show Edmund Burke’s in-depth look at the sublime, giving a foundation for understanding the strong emotional effects of awe-inspiring experiences in art and nature.
Part 2: Sections I-VIII
1. Section I: About Beauty
What Beauty Is:
In this section, Edmund Burke explains that beauty is something that gives us pleasure and makes us feel good. Beauty is linked to things that are gentle, small, smooth, and balanced. Unlike the sublime, which can create feelings of awe or fear, beauty brings calmness and joy. Burke believes beauty is connected to what we find pleasing to our eyes, like smooth shapes and balanced forms. Beauty feels comforting and enjoyable.
Beauty vs. Sublime:
Burke contrasts beauty with the sublime. Beauty is tied to pleasure and balance, while the sublime is about overwhelming and sometimes scary experiences. The sublime can inspire awe or fear, while beauty makes us feel love and admiration. Beauty is often found in small, delicate things like a pretty flower, while the sublime is found in big, powerful forces like a storm or tall mountains. Responses to beauty are peaceful, while the sublime can be intense and sometimes uncomfortable.
Feelings About Beauty:
Burke says that beauty makes us feel calm, happy, and loving. Unlike the sublime, which can cause fear or wonder, beauty promotes feelings of peace and harmony. Beautiful things invite admiration and create a sense of happiness. Burke suggests that beauty is linked to things that please our senses and make us feel good.
2. Section II: Proportion Isn’t the Cause of Beauty
Against the Idea That Proportion Creates Beauty:
In this section, Burke argues against the common belief that beauty comes from proportion or symmetry. This idea, supported by thinkers like Aristotle, says beauty is found in balanced shapes. Burke argues that while proportion can help beauty, it isn’t the only reason something is beautiful. Beauty is more complicated and can’t be explained by proportion alone.
Examples Showing Beauty Can Exist Without Proportion:
Burke gives examples to support his point. For instance, some things that are not symmetrical can still be beautiful. A flower might not have a perfect shape, but it can still be lovely because it brings feelings of joy. Many natural and artistic objects don’t strictly follow proportional rules but are still beautiful. Burke emphasizes that beauty depends on more than just symmetry or math; it also includes qualities that make us feel good.
3. Section III: Fitness Isn’t the Cause of Beauty
Challenging the Idea That Function Creates Beauty:
In this section, Burke questions the belief that beauty comes from being useful or serving a purpose. Some people think something is beautiful if it fits well with its surroundings or has a function. Burke argues that beauty can exist without any practical use. The idea of usefulness doesn’t fully explain why we find certain things beautiful.
Why Beauty Doesn’t Come from Usefulness:
Burke points out that many beautiful things don’t have a clear purpose but are still seen as lovely. For example, a flower or a piece of art might not be useful in the usual sense but are still appreciated for their beauty. He believes beauty comes from how something makes us feel, not from its usefulness. If beauty relied only on being useful, many objects we find beautiful wouldn’t be considered so.
Summary:
- In Section I, Burke describes beauty as something that brings pleasure and comfort, contrasting it with the sublime, which can create fear and awe. Beauty evokes calm feelings, while the sublime is intense and overwhelming.
- In Section II, Burke disagrees with the idea that beauty mainly comes from proportion or symmetry. He shows that beauty can be found in things that are not perfectly shaped, using examples from nature and art.
- In Section III, Burke challenges the belief that beauty is linked to usefulness. He argues that many beautiful things don’t serve a practical purpose but are still appreciated for their beauty. He suggests that beauty is complex and not solely based on how useful something is.
These sections present Burke’s thoughts on beauty, critiquing traditional views and offering a new way to think about beauty in the world.
4. Section IV: The Real Effects of Fitness
How Fitness Affects Beauty:
In this section, Burke explains that “fitness” or usefulness can change how we see beauty, but it is not what makes something beautiful. While the function of an object, like a tool, can make us enjoy it more, it doesn’t mean the object is beautiful by itself. Beauty is about how something makes us feel, not just how well it works. Fitness can make an object more enjoyable, but real beauty comes from things like balance, harmony, and nice shapes, not just their usefulness.
5. Section V: Perfection Not the Cause of Beauty
Beauty Isn’t Just About Perfection:
Burke argues against the idea that beauty means perfection. He says that beauty can actually come from things that aren’t perfect. For example, small flaws in people, like a freckle or a crooked nose, can be seen as attractive. He uses examples of flowers that aren’t perfectly shaped to show that beauty can exist without perfection. This means that beauty is more about how we feel when we see something than about it being flawless.
6. Section VI: Beauty and Moral Virtue
Linking Beauty to Goodness:
In this section, Burke connects beauty to moral goodness. He believes that just like physical beauty comes from nice qualities, virtues like kindness and fairness can also be seen as beautiful. Both beauty and virtue have qualities that people admire. The pleasure we feel from beautiful things can be similar to how we feel about good actions. However, Burke points out that beauty in virtue is not the same as physical beauty; it shows moral balance that makes us feel good.
7. Section VII: The Real Cause of Beauty
What Makes Something Beautiful:
In this section, Burke looks for the true reasons we see beauty. He says beauty comes from both what we experience with our senses and how our minds react emotionally. The qualities of an object, like its smoothness or shape, along with how our brains process these qualities, help create beauty. Beauty isn’t just in our heads; it comes from how we see and feel about things, based on their characteristics and how our bodies work.
8. Section VIII: Beauty in Colour
The Role of Color in Beauty:
In this section, Burke talks about how important color is in seeing beauty. Color affects how we feel about an object or scene. Different colors can make us feel different emotions—some can calm us, while others can excite us. Burke explains how certain colors look good together and enhance beauty. For example, soft colors can make us feel peaceful, while bright colors can make us feel energetic. Color plays a big part in how we experience beauty.
Summary:
- Section IV discusses how usefulness can influence our view of beauty, but it is not the main reason something is beautiful.
- Section V argues that beauty can exist in things that are not perfect, showing that flaws can also be attractive.
- Section VI connects beauty to moral goodness, suggesting both have qualities that inspire admiration.
- Section VII explores the real causes of beauty, focusing on how our senses and minds work together to create our perception of beauty.
- Section VIII emphasizes the importance of color in beauty, explaining how different colors can evoke emotions and enhance our enjoyment of objects.
These sections further develop Burke’s ideas about beauty, highlighting how both objective qualities and personal feelings shape our understanding of it.
1. Section XXVII: Comparing the Sublime and Beautiful
In Section XXVII, Edmund Burke compares the sublime and the beautiful, looking at their differences and similarities. He examines how each affects our feelings and how we see things.
Comparison of the Sublime and the Beautiful:
Burke starts by explaining the key differences between the sublime and the beautiful. The sublime is linked to greatness, power, and fear, making people feel awe, fear, and sometimes horror. In contrast, the beautiful relates to harmony, grace, and joy, creating calmness, love, and peace.
The sublime often involves things that are overwhelming, like huge mountains or vast oceans, making people feel small. It can cause strong emotions, including fear, but these feelings can be enjoyable because they are safe to watch from a distance.
On the other hand, the beautiful creates gentle and peaceful feelings. It is often related to things like symmetry, grace, and smallness, such as a pretty flower or a calm scene. Beauty brings feelings of affection and admiration instead of fear or awe. Burke points out that beauty is usually calm and balanced, very different from the vast and overpowering nature of the sublime.
Differences and Similarities:
Differences:
- Emotional Response: The main difference is in how they make us feel. The sublime brings feelings of awe, fear, or respect, while beauty gives us feelings of calm, love, or admiration.
- Impact: The sublime has a stronger effect on our emotions and can even cause physical reactions like shivers. Beauty is soothing and is usually a source of pleasure.
- Scale and Nature: The sublime is about the vast and the terrifying, while beauty is about the small, delicate, and balanced. The sublime can involve dangerous forces like storms, while beauty comes from more gentle experiences.
Similarities:
Although different, Burke notes some similarities in how they affect us. Both can create a pleasurable emotional response. For example, a beautiful sunset can bring admiration (beauty), but the wide view can also create awe (sublime). Sometimes, experiences of the sublime can also feel beautiful, like when a strong natural scene inspires both fear and admiration. The mix of beauty and the sublime can enhance the feelings we experience.
Effect on Aesthetics and Emotions:
Both the sublime and the beautiful are important in how we see art, nature, and beautiful things. They affect us differently but are both essential for understanding our emotional responses:
- The Sublime often leads to strong emotions. The immense and majestic inspire awe and wonder, making us think about our smallness in the face of nature or the universe. The sublime can also lead to a sense of something greater than ourselves.
- The Beautiful brings calmness and peace, giving us happiness through harmony. It delights our senses and makes us feel at ease with the world. The beautiful aims to create joy and a sense of balance, promoting positive feelings like love and admiration.
Burke concludes that both the sublime and the beautiful are key to our aesthetic experiences, but they represent opposite ends of our emotional range. By understanding how these ideas affect our feelings and thoughts, we can see why people react differently to the same natural sights, objects, or art. Their contrasting and overlapping effects shape how we experience and understand the world around us.
Summary:
In Section XXVII, Burke compares the sublime and the beautiful. They create different emotions: the sublime brings awe and fear, while the beautiful brings love and peace. Both are crucial for understanding our feelings about art and nature. Burke shows their differences and acknowledges moments when they overlap, leading to rich experiences. Together, they influence how we see and appreciate the world.
Conclusion
1. Summary of Key Arguments
Main Ideas in the Essay:
Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful looks at how we feel about beauty and the sublime, two important ideas in art. Burke says that the sublime relates to experiences that are overwhelming, scary, and awe-inspiring, causing feelings of fear and admiration. In contrast, the beautiful brings calmness, love, and joy, based on balance and harmony.
Burke questions the usual views of beauty, which say it is mainly about proportion, perfection, or usefulness. He believes beauty is more about complex feelings and sensations. He also claims that the sublime, even if it involves fear, can give a strong, enjoyable feeling because it is so powerful. Burke also connects these ideas to morals, suggesting that beauty can also mean appreciating good qualities in people.
His work shows that both physical and mental factors affect how we experience beauty and the sublime, moving the study of aesthetics toward a more personal and emotional view.
Impact on Future Ideas about Art:
Burke’s ideas about the sublime and the beautiful greatly influenced later thinkers and theories about art. His focus on feelings and psychological responses created a foundation for later Romantic ideas and discussions about how we relate to art and nature.
2. Critical Reception and Legacy
How Burke’s Work Was Received:
When it was published in 1757, A Philosophical Enquiry attracted a lot of attention and discussion among thinkers, artists, and critics. While some people were unsure about Burke’s break from traditional ideas of beauty, many came to accept his fresh views on the emotional and sensory aspects of beauty and the sublime.
Burke’s focus on feelings marked a shift from the logical and proportional ideas of beauty common in his time. His work encouraged a more personal connection to art, moving away from strict, classic measures of beauty to a better understanding of human emotions.
Impact on Later Thinkers like Immanuel Kant:
Burke’s ideas influenced later philosophers, especially Immanuel Kant, who built on Burke’s ideas about the sublime and beautiful. Kant’s Critique of Judgment (1790) used Burke’s work to explore how we judge art. Although Kant did not fully agree with all of Burke’s ideas, especially about beauty, Burke’s focus on feelings heavily influenced Kant’s thoughts on aesthetic judgment and the sublime.
Kant expanded Burke’s ideas, viewing the sublime as a reflection of human freedom. Burke’s influence can also be seen in the Romantic movement, which valued deep emotions, individual experiences, and nature—key themes in the works of poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Schiller.
3. Selected Quotes and Analysis
Key Quotes from the Essay:
- About the Sublime and Beautiful:
“The sublime is an idea that causes astonishment or terror, which is not derived from beauty; it is a quality that excites the highest emotions of which human nature is capable.”
Analysis:
This quote shows how Burke distinguishes the sublime from the beautiful. The sublime creates strong emotions like awe and fear, while the beautiful brings calm and pleasure. This idea is central to his work, highlighting that emotional power, rather than strict measures, defines the sublime.
- About the Emotional Power of Beauty:
“Beauty, therefore, is the cause of a delight and joy in the mind, which is calm, serene, and affectionate.”
Analysis:
Here, Burke explains that beauty brings peaceful and happy feelings. Beauty is linked to harmony, delicacy, and balance, leading to gentle emotional experiences, unlike the intense feelings caused by the sublime.
- About Terror in the Sublime:
“Terror is in all cases, whatsoever, either the main or a component part of the sublime.”
Analysis:
This quote emphasizes that fear is a key part of the sublime. The sublime is not just grand; it often involves a sense of danger or immense power, which can create strong emotional reactions that mix fear and awe.
4. Comparative Analysis
Comparing Burke’s Ideas to Other Theories:
Burke’s views on the sublime and beautiful differ from classical theories by Aristotle and Plato, who focused on logic and proportion in defining beauty. Unlike them, Burke adds an emotional and personal angle, highlighting that beauty and the sublime are mainly about human feelings.
Burke’s ideas also contrast with Immanuel Kant, who, while influenced by Burke, placed more importance on the moral and transcendent aspects of the sublime. Kant argued that the sublime reflects our ability to think and be free, an idea Burke did not explore deeply.
Burke’s focus on fear and terror in the sublime sets him apart from thinkers like Alexander Baumgarten, who defined aesthetics as the science of sensory experience but did not include the intense feelings that Burke introduced.
Impact on Future Literary and Aesthetic Criticism:
Burke’s ideas greatly influenced Romanticism, celebrated by poets like William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Romantic works often explored themes of nature and strong emotions, shaped by Burke’s concept of the sublime.
Burke’s influence is also seen in 19th and 20th-century literary criticism, where critics like Matthew Arnold and John Ruskin examined how audiences emotionally respond to art and beauty, stressing the importance of feelings in aesthetic judgment.
Conclusion:
Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful introduced new ideas in aesthetics that emphasized emotional experience in appreciating beauty and the sublime. His distinction between these concepts reshaped how philosophers and critics viewed aesthetics and impacted later thinkers like Kant and the Romantics. Burke’s focus on the psychological and sensory sides of aesthetic experience continues to influence modern discussions in philosophy, literature, and art.