Philosophy
The Aesthetic Experience of the Sublime
Quick fact
In the 18th century, philosopher Edmund Burke described the sublime as rooted in terror, and he wrote that to make anything very terrible, obscurity seems in general to be necessary.
Why this is interesting
You’ve stood before a towering mountain or a raging storm and felt a strange mix of fear and exhilaration—why does something so overwhelming also feel so meaningful? That’s the sublime.