This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.

1. 1. An Essay On Taste

   

   This Enlightenment treatise examines the faculty by which we judge beauty and sublimity, grounding aesthetic judgments in human psychology and shared experience. It identifies sources of aesthetic pleasure—such as harmony, proportion, novelty, and imitation—and explains how imagination, emotion, and judgment interact in perception. While acknowledging individual variation, it argues for underlying principles that enable common standards, and shows how education, practice, and exposure refine discernment. It also considers the roles of genius and criticism in advancing the arts and shaping taste across society.

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2. 2. An Essay On Genius

   

   A philosophical inquiry into the sources, structure, and cultivation of exceptional creative capacity, it defines genius as a dynamic interplay of fertile imagination, sound judgment, and refined sensibility shaped by habit, education, and experience. Surveying its varieties across the arts and sciences, it distinguishes genius from wit and taste, analyzes invention and originality through the association of ideas, and offers practical guidance for nurturing these powers. It also weighs the social conditions that foster or frustrate extraordinary talent, advocating liberty, encouragement, and disciplined practice as the surest supports.

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