Book description
Edmund Burke was one of the foremost philosophers of the eighteenth
century and wrote widely on aesthetics, politics and society. In this
landmark work, he propounds his theory that the sublime and the
beautiful should be regarded as distinct and wholly separate states -
the first, an experience inspired by fear and awe, the second an
expression of pleasure and serenity. Eloquent and profound, A
Philosophical Enquiry is an involving account of our sensory,
imaginative and judgmental processes and their relation to artistic
appreciation. Burke's work was hugely influential on his contemporaries
and also admired by later writers such as Matthew Arnold and William
Wordsworth. This volume also contains several of his early political
works on subjects including natural society, government and the American
colonies, which illustrate his liberal, humane views.
Edmund Burke (1729-97) was elected as an MP in 1781. He championed
the unpopular cause of Catholic emancipation and a great part of his
career became dedicated to the problem of India. The French Revolution
prompted one of his best-known works Reflections on the Revolution in France.
David Womersley is editor of Augustan Critical Writing, which was
recently published in Penguin Classics.
