A Philosophers Walk/Talk on the Sublime

The sublime is a concept with a long philosophical history. It was also central to Romanticism, which was rooted in a fascination for overwhelming, terrifying nature. But how are we to interpret the sublime today? Genuine, unspoiled nature is becoming ever scarcer. And the terrifying aspect appears to lie more in the destructive human impact on nature.

The Sublime focus opens with a screening of A Philosophers Walk on the Sublime, a short film by American filmmaker Leslie Thornton. The remarkable landscape of the Swiss Alps inflects Thornton's musings on the sublime, as it may be pursued in nature and photography. The film screening is followed by a conversation on the sublime between philosopher Miriam Rasch (author of Zwemmen in de oceaan: berichten uit een postdigitale wereld) and sociologist Rudi Laermans (KU Leuven).