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Edmund Burke was one of the foremost philosophers of the eighteenth century and wrote widely on aesthetics, politics and society. In this landmark work, he propounds his theory that the sublime and the beautiful should be regarded as distinct and wholly separate states - the... Read Full Overview

A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful is a 1757 treatise on aesthetics written by Edmund Burke. It was the first complete philosophical exposition for separating the beautiful and the sublime into their own respective rational categories... Read Full Overview

In his Enquiry--which has been described as "certainly one of the most important aesthetic documents that eighteenth -century England produced"--the young Burke provided a systematic analysis of the 'sublime' and the 'beautiful, ' together with a distinctive terminology... Read Full Overview

An eloquent and sometimes even erotic book, the Philosophical Enquiry was long dismissed as a piece of mere juvenilia. However, Burke's analysis of the relationship between emotion, beauty, and art form is now recognized as not only an important and influential work of aesthetic... Read Full Overview

A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and BeautifulBy Edmund Burke

A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful By Edmund BurkeA Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful is a 1757 treatise on aesthetics written by Edmund Burke. It was the first complete philosophical... Read Full Overview

Edited with an introduction and notes by James T. Boulton.

'One of the greatest essays ever written on art.'- The Guardian

Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful is one of the most important... Read Full Overview

Edmund Burke's 1757 treatise, "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful," is a clearly written, well-argued, and variously inflected work of philosophy. Coming out of and contending with the traditions of philosophies of passion, understanding,... Read Full Overview

In A Philosophical Enquiry... Edmund Burke sets out to define the nature of beauty and sublimity, and establish an objective criterion for discussing aesthetics. His definition of beauty as rooted in pleasure and sexuality, and the sublime in pain and survival, aligned him with... Read Full Overview

A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) is a philosophical treatise published in pamphlet form by Irish statesman and thinker Edmund Burke. Following in the footsteps of generations of philosophers, especially Aristotle... Read Full Overview

Edmund Burke 12 January 1730 - 9 July 1797) was an Irish statesman born in Dublin, as well as an author, orator, political theorist and philosopher, who after moving to London in 1750 served as a member of parliament (MP) between 1766 and 1794 in the House of Commons with the... Read Full Overview