Title It is in the spirit of the Enlightenment to ponder human nature. Just as the Enlightenment leads one to question his or her decision making—emphasizing decisions based in reason—the Enlightenment also leads one to question the motive behind those choices. Is it human nature to act in one’s own self-interest or, rather, on a moral sense? Connected to these questions on motive are the Enlightenment concepts of beauty, or “that quality…by which [it causes] love, or some passion similar to it,” and the sublime: “whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger.” Beauty and sublime hold immense influence over the human conscience and that is evident far beyond the Enlightenment period. People then and now often choose …show more content…
The sublime employs this power of terror and directly influences humankind’s self-interest and decision making. A famous example of this can be found in the desires of the American people at the rise of the American Revolution. As Burke describes, the sublime can also include elements of power. For “in what light soever we look upon power, we shall all along observe the sublime the concomitant of terror,” because “pain is always inflicted by a power in some way superior…we never submit to pain willingly.” Those things that are powerful, that have the potential to inflict harm, that are superior to the people are the sublime. Therefore, in cases, government is a sublime entity, and as discussed before, steering clear of the sublime is a pillar of humankind’s self-interest. Thus, it comes as no surprise that, at the time of the American Revolution, the American people search to escape their sublime government as is exemplified in the Declaration of Independence: “the history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations,” and “when a long train of abuses and usurpations…evinces a design to reduce [the people] under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government.” Interestingly, the …show more content…
One could argue that morals also play a role in one’s decision making. After all, could not an individual be interested in “being a good person” and “doing the right thing?” However, evidence from the Enlightenment most supports the idea that human nature is centered on self-interest, and that self-interest is certainly influenced by the elements of beauty and sublime. Beauty and sublime interact with one another in a way that provokes the mind and directs one’s decisions. The sublime, which has far more influence on the mind than beauty, encompasses those things that invoke fear, and subsequently respect. Beauty, which follows once the sublime has been dealt with, encompasses entities that appeal to one’s admiration, satisfaction, and love. Above all, the fundamental self-interest of humankind is to avoid the sublime and celebrate in the