The Origin of Our Ideas of The Sublime and Beautiful

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In the book extract A Philosophical Enquiry Into The Origin of Our Ideas of The Sublime and Beautiful part II section I by Edmund Burke (1759), the effects of emotions on the human mind is described and analyzed, the book deduces that astonishment that is a state where the human emotions are suspended with some degree of horror, the mind cannot reason as required; the results are inferior effects such as admiration, reverence and respect.Fear robs the mind the power to execute its central mandate that is to think through things, to analyze and interpret them critically without prejudice; terror takes away the reasoning capabilities of the mind. In section III, obscurity (to make anything very terrible) knocks off the ability to apprehend situations. Tyrannical and despotic governments often use the policy of fear to limit the public from questioning them, the policy is very common in cafes of religion too as the barbarous temples of the American still keep their idols in a dark part of the hut as darkness emanates fear, it raises the emotion of terror and hence crippled judgment from the worshippers.The difference between obscurity and clearness, concerning the effects they both have to the human perception and intuition, is discussed. Edmund Burke says that it is one thing to make an idea crystal clear and another to make it affecting to the imagination he goes ahead and gives an example of a well-drawn structure such as a palace, landscape or a temple, the well-drawn structure gives a clear idea of the objects. However, a verbal description would give an imperfect description as compared to the paintings. The verbal description, however, would raise the strongest emotion compared to the painting. The idea of pain and more so death often impairs the human judgment, and this is because no one enters into a painful scenario willingly; it is often driven by a greater force out of our control. It is necessary to conclude that when things possess emotional qualities such as a fo...