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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. How do smells and tastes become sublime most effectively?

2. How does Burke define solitude?

3. Why is suddenness sublime, according to Burke?

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

5. What natural powers in man does Burke say relate to external objects?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is the main problem with creating prescribed definitions, especially of taste, according to Burke?

4. What is Burke's idea of "artificial infinity?"

5. Describe Burke's idea of beauty.

6. What is the significance of the senses to the faculty of taste, according to Burke?

7. Describe the types of dimensional greatness Burke notes are part of the sublime.

8. What is the difference between taste and knowledge, according to Burke?

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

10. Describe Burke's definition of the sublime.

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

How does Burke define and categorize power? What is the significance of power to the sublime? What is power's relation to pain and pleasure? How does Burke relate danger to power? What are some of the examples Burke uses to represent power, and do you think they are accurate examples?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the faculty of "taste," as Burke depicts it, what are the three human faculties that affect taste? How does Burke consider the general human capacity about taste? What "agreements" does Burke assert are naturally part of taste? What does Burke argue about tastes that deviate from causes other than habit or use? Briefly describe the significance of human judgment to the faculty of taste. What is the cause of a wrong taste, and what are some examples of it? What does Burke identify as the central tension between the imagination and the judgment? How can one improve one's taste? What is the significance of pleasure to taste, and the relationship between pleasure and judgment?

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