A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful by Edmund Burke
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
Available in Print: COPYRIGHT: (1757) Independently published (January 25, 2022); ISBN 979-8408120826; PAGES 143; Unabridged

Available in Digital: Yes

My version: *Audio: COPYRIGHT: 4/1/2020 ; ISBN: 9781781982709; PUBLISHER: Naxos AudioBooks; DURATION: 05:56:32; PARTS: 5; File Size: 169225 KB; Unabridged

SERIES: No

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it: I’m afraid I don’t remember.
What’s it about? It’s an attempt at a logical, reasonable analyses of the perception of what is beautiful and what is sublime. Postulates that sublimity requires an element of fear—ocean storms; man-eating beasts and the like are sublime. Purports that beauty is not based on proportion alone and discusses other elements and the emotions aroused.
What did I think? One of those books I had to listen to a couple of times and struggled to keep my attention on it. Interesting and thought provoking, but I think it’s a little arrogant to intellectualize emotions and presume that one has grasped all that goes into a perception, or that one size fits all to any great extent.

AUTHOR:
Edmund Burke
From Wikipedia:
“12 January [NS] 1729[5] – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, economist, and philosopher. Born in Dublin, Burke served as a member of Parliament (MP) between 1766 and 1794 in the House of Commons of Great Britain with the Whig Party.

Burke was a proponent of underpinning virtues with manners in society and of the importance of religious institutions for the moral stability and good of the state.[6] These views were expressed in his A Vindication of Natural Society. He criticised the actions of the British government towards the American colonies, including its taxation policies. Burke also supported the rights of the colonists to resist metropolitan authority, although he opposed the attempt to achieve independence. He is remembered for his support for Catholic emancipation, the impeachment of Warren Hastings from the East India Company, and his staunch opposition to the French Revolution.”

NARRATOR:
Matt Addis
From IMDb: “Matt Addis is known for Hounded (2022), Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures (2006) and The Devil's Hour (2022).”

GENRE:
Philosophy, non-fiction
SUBJECTS:
perceptions; beauty; sublime; fear

RATING:.
3

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
09-27-2022 to 12-5-2022
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O jovem Burke sabe que o que nos provoca as paixões são as ideias da mente, além das disposições corporais. Por isso, bem unidos que são, um relaxamento de um ocasiona o de outro, e a beleza provoca isso. Ela é uma paixão baseada no prazer que subtrai do amor a luxúria advinda do sexo, e se liga ao sentimento de sociedade que os sencientes tem entre si. Tem muito de suave e sensação de relaxamento, causando amor nos corpos, sem recair no desejo, e impulso de posse. E a doçura e amabilidade é a beleza do gosto.

De modo que as emoções não são diretamente relacionadas a crenças, situações verdadeiras, percepções empíricas não-mediadas e conceitos bem determinados. Mas sim, surgem do entreter de pensamentos, por meio da imaginação, ou em conformidade com essas crenças, situações e percepções.

O prazer da similitude é o que mais nos agrada a imaginação. Pela experiência e observação, desenvolvemos a partir de uma propensão universal, as diferenças no gosto, que são de refinamento do julgamento. Não sendo algo simples o gosto se forma a partir dos prazeres primários dos sentidos, dos prazeres secundários da imaginação e das conclusões da faculdade racional. E melhora por aumento de atenção, conhecimento e exercício frequente.

Burke trata do sublime, a mais potente paixão de auto-conservação, fundada na dor e perigo, mas sem efetivação do malefício, por distância e posição de segurança. Um horror agradável, tranquilidade colorida de terror, o sublime é um deleite, ou seja, uma emoção positiva não fundada no prazer. Surge também de ideias terríveis e fantásticas; estas quando determinadas e detalhadas demais, por exemplo, por pintores, ganham um tom ridículo, grotesco, incapaz de uma paixão séria. Já na poesia o efeito é conseguido, pois mantém-se a indeterminação e o obscuro que obtém o efeito do magnífico. No muito grande e muito pequeno, há tal ocupação da alma, quando da perplexidade-assombro, que a mente é preenchida e isso com algum terror. Esse é o grau mais alto do sublime, a antecipar nossa razão que não acha mais a unidade. Os outros níveis sendo a admiração, a reverência e o respeito.

Ademais: os críticos procuraram as regras da arte e nelas as regras para certas paixões.
"But art can never give the rules that make an art. This is, I believe, the reason why artists in general, and poests principally, have been confined in so narrow a circle; they have been rather imitators of one another than of nature; and this with so faithful an uniformity, and to so remote an antiquity, that it is hard to say who gave the first model." (p. 91)
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He set himself a difficult goal, to discuss the Sublime and Beautiful. He makes minor observations but nothing substantial towards defining Sublime and Beautiful.

A difficult read. I agree with some of it, many of his thoughts are unique to his mind. ( )

This book by Burke made me to think more about Aesthetics, such a great introduction to the Philosophy of Aesthetics. Burke wants to enquire if he can categorize aesthetics rationally and tries to explore thoroughly.
I loved his writing on Fear, Fear robs us from everything, our rationally is suspended. It might be the object of our attention, nothing else will be on our mind. I would recommend this to someone who wants to take time to think about aesthetics, emotions.
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This book by Burke made me to think more about Aesthetics, such a great introduction to the Philosophy of Aesthetics. Burke wants to enquire if he can categorize aesthetics rationally and tries to explore thoroughly.
I loved his writing on Fear, Fear robs us from everything, our rationally is suspended. It might be the object of our attention, nothing else will be on our mind. I would recommend this to someone who wants to take time to think about aesthetics, emotions.
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