The Nature of Beauty and the Sublime

The lecture explores the concepts of beauty and the sublime in art, focusing on the ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas. The speaker discusses how beauty and goodness are intimately connected, both being based on form and proportion. He also explores the understanding of beauty in the human soul, which manifests through virtues like honesty. The sublime, on the other hand, refers to greatness that transports the viewer or reader beyond themselves. The speaker delves into the sublime in literature and identifies five means of achieving it, including great thoughts, passionate presence, lofty figures of thought and speech, and arranging words in a sublime manner. The lecture emphasizes the importance of cultivating wonder and the pursuit of wisdom through the appreciation of the beautiful and the sublime.