When reading these selections from Burke and Kant, you should aim to understand three distinctions.

• Kant’s distinction between the beautiful and the sublime (see especially the selections from §23 on the handout, p. 10, and from the “General remark,” on the handout, pp. 17-19).

• Kant’s distinction between the mathematical and dynamical sublime (see the selections from §§24-28 on the handout, pp. 11-16).

• the difference between Burke’s and Kant’s views. Of course, Kant’s comments in the “General remark” are important here, but also look for ways of comparing Burke and Kant beyond the ones Kant notes.

Notice that the emphasis here is on Kant, and you will probably not need to do more than skim the selections from Burke. The point of those is threefold: to give you a sense of a typical 18th century view of the sublime, to provide an example of a position which contrasts with Kant’s in something like the way Hume’s view on beauty does, and to supply some background for Kant’s discussion of Burke’s views.