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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Burke mean by the word "Taste?"

2. What does Burke want "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" to accomplish?

3. Why are the cries of animals sublime, according to Burke?

4. Which of the following is one of the general privations Burke lists?

5. What is Burke's general plan of action for this book?

Short Essay Questions

1. Briefly describe the significance of human judgment to the faculty of taste.

2. What is astonishment, according to Burke, and why is it important?

3. What types of colors are productive of the sublime, and which colors are not, according to Burke?

4. Describe Burke's idea of beauty.

5. Describe Burke's definition of the sublime.

6. What is the significance of power in Burke's Enquiry, and what is one example he gives of power?

7. Describe the main difference between light and dark relative to the sublime.

8. Summarize Burke's section about the role of smells and tastes relating to the sublime.

9. What causes Burke to offer a second edition of "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?

10. What, according to Burke, is sublime about religion?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the Introduction on Taste, Burke qualifies his purpose of defining the origins of the sublime and the beautiful. What, according to Burke, is the main problem with creating prescribed definitions, especially taste? What do definitions essentially do, and in what ways can they limit rather than enlighten? Considering Burke's mission regarding and methods used in the "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful," do you find anything ambiguous or undermining about Burke's reservations on definitions? Do you find inconsistencies here that make you think differently about reading "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?

Essay Topic 2

Paraphrase Burke's definition of beauty and the distinction he makes between love and lust or desire. What relation does beauty have to the sublime? Through which faculties does one experience, understand, and interpret that which is beautiful? How are love and lust/desire different, and can they ever coexist?

Essay Topic 3

Select three examples from anywhere in the text of what you would consider scientific methodology in Burke's writing. These may be specific examples he cites (such as his personal anecdotes or the selections from literature he reads), the structure or progression of his subjects or thought process in a section on a specific topic, or his tone as he considers the nature of things beautiful or sublime. Consider how Burke's methodology is, in itself, rather scientific in nature. For each example you selected, write a synopsis of why the selection seems scientific in nature to you. To be "scientific" in nature is, for example, to test one's theories somehow, to consider other theories in relation to one's own, to give evidence that supports one's theories, to maintain a tone of professional, instead of personal, interest, and so on.

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