Sublime in Aesthetics
Yueyan Guo
The sublime, as an important activity for aesthetic judgment, also operates through the reflective judgment of the aesthetic while following the principle of subjective co-purposefulness. Since the object of the sublime is, to a certain extent, without tangible form and the naturally presented phenomena are not beautiful and sublime, one cannot intuitively feel and judge the sublime by the senses alone. The judgment of the sublime, like the judgment of beauty, is based on existence (Moland, 2005). Through the continuous search for nature, the human subject can still form the aesthetic feeling that “the object is sublime.” In this process, the imagination assists people in perceiving things beyond their understanding, but the emotions that arise are not about absolute pleasure but awe and fear. This paper aims to examine the relationship between the sublime experience and our sense of self. Does the relationship challenge or confirm our understanding of our place in the world?
Yueyan Guo, a dedicated philosophy major whose academic journey is fueled by a profound interest in philosophical inquiry. With a focused passion for aesthetics, metaphysics, and ethics, she is actively exploring the fundamental issues that shape people's understanding of the world.