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Beautiful things might amaze and rouse us, but the sublime affects us in a more profound way. It’s overwhelming, even frightening, and can leave us with a deep and lasting sense of wonder. But why do potential dangers, such as a foreboding storm on the horizon or the view from the edge of a cliff, exhilarate the human mind? The 18th-century philosopher and writer Edmund Burke thought that the sublime involves the possibility of pain, which triggers feelings of self-preservation – a visceral response that moves from the body to the mind.
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Consciousness and altered states
‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality
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History
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
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Art
Background music was the radical invention of a trailblazing composer
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Metaphysics
What do past, present and future mean to a philosopher of time?
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Art
Radical doodles – how ‘exquisite corpse’ games embodied the Surrealist movement
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Beauty and aesthetics
In art, the sublime is a feedback loop, evolving with whatever’s next to threaten us
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Beauty and aesthetics
Can you see music in this painting? How synaesthesia fuelled Kandinsky’s art
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Art
Creating art that was aware of itself – and the viewer – made Manet the first modernist
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Cities
A lush, whirlwind tribute to the diversity of life in a northern English county
3 minutes