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In his Critique of Judgment ( 1790 ), Kant officially says that there are two forms of the sublime, the mathematical and the dynamical, although some commentators hold that there is a third form, the moral sublime, a layover from the earlier " noble " sublime.

Kant claims, " We call that sublime which is absolutely great "(§ 25 ).

He distinguishes between the " remarkable differences " of the Beautiful and the Sublime, noting that beauty " is connected with the form of the object ", having " boundaries ", while the sublime " is to be found in a formless object ", represented by a " boundlessness " (§ 23 ).

Kant evidently divides the sublime into the mathematical and the dynamical, where in the mathematical " aesthetical comprehension " is not a consciousness of a mere greater unit, but the notion of absolute greatness not inhibited with ideas of limitations (§ 27 ).

The dynamically sublime is " nature considered in an aesthetic judgment as might that has no dominion over us ", and an object can create a fearfulness " without being afraid of it " (§ 28 ).

He considers both the beautiful and the sublime as " indefinite " concepts, but where beauty relates to the " Understanding ", sublime is a concept belonging to " Reason ", and " shows a faculty of the mind surpassing every standard of Sense " (§ 25 ).

For Kant, one's inability to grasp the enormity of a sublime event such as an earthquake demonstrates inadequacy of one's sensibility and imagination.

Simultaneously, one's ability to subsequently identify such an event as singular and whole indicates the superiority of one's cognitive, supersensible powers.

Ultimately, it is this " supersensible substrate ," underlying both nature and thought, on which true sublimity is located.