Experimental Science as Epistemic Expansion: New Work for a Theory of the Sublime

Dating back to the early modern theories of Burke and Kant, philosophical accounts have made cognitive failure central to the experience of the sublime. This essay argues for a re-conception of the sublime in terms of the notion of epistemic expansion. Doing so not only provides a plausible account of traditional examples of the sublime, but also provides us with language that can capture an important but neglected aesthetic dimension of experimental science: the expansion of human perception. Recognizing this dimension, it is argued, also enriches our understanding of the ways in which experimental science can facilitate broader public engagement with science.