Aesthetics: Beauty and the Sublime. 16.10.28
Burke is a hard read for me: his treatise on the Beauty and the Sublime seems more revealing of his own traumatised consciousness and times, than of a fundamental truth. He starts off with the observation that made him famous, when he likens the sublime to a view of the Alps, which commences in admiration (of beauty), and ends in terror.
Burke says the main thing that motivates him is fear of pain and fear of death. His world view starts to seem bound up in domination and submission. When he talks about Beauty, he says it is defined by as that (thing) one loves. In a circular argument, he says love is (an emotion) inspired by beauty. But he does say a little more about love: it is close to contempt. Love is not desire – for we can desire things that are not beautiful. [A woman? Money?] Generally, we can love that we control (and find it beautiful), and we can fear that we cant – and also adore its power to the extent of finding it sublime.
When he likens love to contempt, I visualise Burkes world, as Britain started its empire. Burke’s philosophy helped shape and justify the Empire. Burke wrote that Britain was justified in colonising lands provided it was benevolent to the people and would lead them to liberty. Burke was probably traumatised by his times (schooling, etc), his ideas of love and admiration for authority speak to this. He also changed from being a supporter of liberty in the American Revolution, to a monarchist after the French Revolution.
Burkes idea of the sublime is not mine! Burke says the infinite is a prime example of the sublime. He is terrified of the infinite; it reminds him of death, as he is not infinite, or at least his ego isn’t. By his definition of the sublime, that makes the infinite very sublime.
Others who reflect on the infinite by meditation or philosophy about mind-body-world (eg phenomenology) have a different idea of the infinite: as welcoming, fascinating, maybe overwhelming sensation of the vastness of our universe. It is more like wonderment, acceptance, dissolving, seeing death as a transition. That’s also a feeling of the sublime. For both Burke and the meditator, the ego is lost in the experience of the sublime. Though Burke is terrified by the loss of ego, he “takes pleasure from the sublimes’ coercive power”. The mediator is enchanted, enlightened.
Raphael by the Sea 