Reaction to Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Investigation into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful

"The other side of Sublime"

Edmund Burke would make a great, goth-music songwriter--it's really too bad that black metal, gothic rock and the like weren't around upon the writing of his book, "A Philosophical Investigation into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful."

The reason I bring this up is because he seems to zero in on the balance of human pleasure and pain. Apparently, humans--when desiring another human--are constantly in pain. Burke states that despite the removal of pain, there is still no pleasure, and despite the removal of pleasure, there is no pain.
Burke argues that even though we might be relieved of pain, we aren't satisfied, and thus, there is no pleasure, and that the sublime is more associated with the pain itself.

His entire thesis is the focal point of the vast majority of emo, gothic rock and black metal bands out there (i. e. Charon, Evanescence, For my Pain, Avantasia, Mutiny Within...the list is endless).

To an extent, I can see that there is merit to Burke's thesis that without pleasure, there is still pain, or if not pain, indifference--which still isn't pleasure. In class, the example of a woman named Orlon was used--who apparently reconfigures her face constantly, without instigation or necessity--which is an example of a grotesque version of Burke's theory.

I counter with Heidi Montag--a reality TV star who went celebrity, and who had her status increased, ironically, for her addiction to plastic surgery. She was an already attractive woman prior to her reconfiguration--but for one reason or another, she felt it necessary to undergo ten plastic surgery procedures(in one day, I might add), plus who knows however many more. Why? Because she was aiming for that subliminal high--she wanted to walk that high-wire between the Twin Towers herself and achieve a fame that she had never reached before.

Needless to say--it worked. She now has about three movie roles coming up, as well as a slew of appearances on Late Night and Daytime television talk shows.

My argument to Burke's theory, that without pleasure there is only pain, is that even though a person may not be gleeful whilst wading in the shallows of indifference--they can still be content.

Couples break up constantly, people sometimes obsess over someone they find attractive to the point of falsely believing they are "in love," and something tragic might happen to a couple or even an individual--but somehow, they get over it. Despite the fact that moments of content may be few and far between, those moments are still void of pain.

The concept of "thinking of you" becoming absolute pain is, in my opinion, absolute BS.

I argue the contrary, that even though it might be difficult to accept that the one beautiful girl in the front of the class will never go out with the straggly-looking, poor guy, that guy will find comfort in "thinking of her," even if it is just fantasy, and even if it is for a short while. And although Burke believes this form of relief as something that is NOT sublime, I think--to many people, it is.