Edmund Burke was a philosopher famous for his take on aesthetics in his book: "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" (1757). In this work, Burke divided the aesthetic and perception of art into two parts, "beauty" and "the sublime".
For the purpose of this debate:
a. "Beauty" refers to a quality associated with gentle and pleasing emotions that arise from our interactions with the world around us. This means art that provide a sense of reassurance, validation and comfort for its viewers.
b. "Sublime" refers to art that surpasses the boundaries of the beautiful and elicits intense emotions of awe, astonishment, and even terror. He emphasizes that the sublime is associated with qualities of vastness, obscurity, and insignificance. This means as opposed to providing comfort, this art provides a foreign and thought-provoking feeling to its viewers