Subject Area
Philosophy
Description
The sublime, as developed by Immanuel Kant in Critique of Judgment and later framed and deconstructed by Jacques Derrida in The Truth in Painting, is much like admiring a view—standing before the ocean, seeing nothing but an endless expanse of water stretching beyond the horizon. Yet this vastness is only visible through the lens of our own perception. Imagine being placed in the middle of that ocean, surrounded by nothing: a sensation of weight, anxiety, perhaps even freedom and clarity, might emerge—a powerful emotion never before felt. That situation itself is not the sublime; rather, it is the feeling, the emotional intensity, that constitutes the sublime, and it is always framed by subjective experience. It is the movement from brain to hand, thought to perception. The sublime is the unbounded, the overwhelming, awe-inspiring confrontation with what cannot be neatly understood or contained—something not like beauty, and not fully comparable to anything else, yet we try to define it anyway. Dissection becomes necessary; as with any idea, meaning and application must be constructed to complete the illusion of coherence or perfection. The sublime is like chasing God or perfection—defined by what it is not, because it simply is.
Publisher
Providence College
Date
Spring 3-21-2026
Start Date
3-21-2026 12:00 AM
Type
Article
Format
Text
.pdf (text under image)
Language
English
