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from Samuel H. Monk, The Sublime: A Study of Critical Theories in 18th century England, 1960 1. Kant(p.6) "Although points of agreement between the sublime and the beautiful exist (in so far as each is as each aesthetic judgment), there are great differences. Beauty is concerned with limited objects, with forms; the sublime is to be found in objects that are limitless, that have no form, though they are always accompanied with a "super-thought" of totality. The beautiful therefore, implies an effort of the understanding, the faculty that determines objects by specific conceptions; the sublime implies an effort of the reason, the faculty that seeks an unconditioned totality. Hence delight in the beautiful is associated with a representation of quality; in the sublime, with a representation of quantity. Pleasure in the beautiful arises from “a feeling of the furtherance of life," and is compatible with charm and a playful imagination; the feeling of the sublime is brought about by “a momentary check to the vital forces, followed at once by a discharge all the more powerful" for having been restrained. Therefore pleasure in the sublime is secondary, a negative pleasure, unlike the positive pleasure experienced in the beautiful."(Critique of Judgment, Part I, Book 2) Samuel Monk가 설명하는 Kant Sublime론의 특징 Sublimity as an aesthetic concept is made entirely subjective: it is not a quality residing in the object, but a state of mind awakened by an object.
In experiencing the sublime, the imagination seeks to represent what it is powerless to represent, since the object is limitless, and thus cannot be represented. This effort and this inevitable failure of the imagination are the source of the emotions that accompany the sublime, which achieves its effect by the opposition between the object and our faculties of knowledge; but beauty achieves its effect through their complete harmony. It is upon this lack of harmony between object and subject, upon the futile effort on the part of the imagination to grasp and to represent the formless, that Kant erects his theory of the sublime. Turning to nature, Kant shows that, although it is possible to term objects of nature beautiful, it is impossible to consider them sublime, since all external nature is a totality of forms, and the sublime is essentially unlimited. It can only be said that objects of nature awakened the feeling of sublimity by the reaction of the mind to the object. Since reason constantly seeks an absolute whole, and no object sensuously presented can give such a whole, the sublime cannot be found in nature, but only in ideas of reason.(p.7) Kant의 Sublime론에 대한 Philip Shaw의 결론
Sublimity for Kant is the feeling that arises whenever we, as subjects, become aware of the transcendental dimensions of experience. The sublime occurs, that is, whenever ideas exceed the application of a concept; at such moments the mind comes alive to the existence of a faculty of reason transcending the limits of our sensual existence.
 
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