ABSTRACT

There is a growing literature on the role of aesthetic values, experiences and judgements in the scientific endeavour. Scientists themselves often profess being guided by aesthetic considerations in evaluating and constructing theories and other scientific artefacts. The focus in the literature, however, is on beauty experiences and aesthetic values typically tied to them, such as coherence, unity and simplicity. The aim of this chapter is to broaden and enrich the debate by considering another important aesthetic category, namely the sublime. The latter has been frequently defined in contrast with the beautiful: while beauty experiences are mainly positive and pleasurable, sublimity experiences involve ambivalent feelings (they are disturbing but enlightening at the same time). We shall start by a characterisation of the sublime, which takes into account different philosophical traditions. The discussion shall lead us to further examine how beauty and sublimity experiences are related, and why both can be considered aesthetic experiences. Then, we shall turn to the role the sublime may play in science. We shall deal with two sides of this issue: the sublime can be (a) an object of empirical investigation and (b) a guide in scientific practice. The upshot of our discussion is that although both beauty and sublimity experiences can lead to judgements of truth and understanding, sublimity experiences have a relational nature that makes them apt to ground deep judgements of understanding about the limits of human cognition.