The Sublime and the Beautiful by Edmund Burke - (selective) Summary

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Part 1, Chapter 7: Of the Sublime
Anything that evokes feelings of pain and danger produces the sublime- "the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling". Pain is more powerful than pleasure. Furthermore, pain that is far enough from death can elicits pleasure.

Part 2, Chapter 2: Terror
Fear is the anticipation of pain or death, and as such it paralyzes. Thus, just as pain, fear too evokes the sublime. The common denominator of all of these is terror and it is terror which evokes the sublime. This is reflected in linguistics: in many languages similar words are used to describe wonder (the sublime) and terror.

Part 3, Chapter 1: Of Beauty
Beauty is distinct from but related to the sublime. Beauty is "those qualities in bodies by which they cause love, or some passion similar to it". Love, conversely, is defined by the perception of beauty. Love is distinct from lust and desire. Lust and desire are forces which drive to possess the object thereof but are not necessarily derived from beauty.

Edmund Burke


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