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A classic of 18th-century thought, Schiller's treatise defines the relationship between beauty and art. His proposal of art as fundamental to the development of society and the individual remains an influential concept.
'The artist is certainly the child of his age, but all the worse for him if he is at the same time its pupil, even worse its minion.' On the Aesthetic Education of Man is one of the most profound works of German philosophy, in which Friedrich Schiller analyses politics, revolution and the history of ideas to define the relationship between beauty and art. Resulting from Schiller's deep disillusionment with the course of the French Revolution and expressed as a series of letters to a patron, On the Aesthetic Education of Man is an impassioned attempt to drag mankind upwards from failure to greatness through placing ideas of aesthetic education at the heart of the human experience: 'Our era has actually taken both wrong turnings, and has fallen prey to coarseness on the one path, lethargy and perversity on the other. Having strayed along both paths, it is beauty that can lead [us] back.' Schiller's arguments are as arresting, challenging and inspiring today as when they were first written - it is above all one of the great political statements from a time of revolutionary change.
This study analyses the way in which Schiller sought to connect history with aesthetics in his Aesthetic Education. Rhetoric is seen as a key concept which allows for the combination of formal and sociological interpretation of Schiller's text. A close analysis of Schiller's argument stresses both the positive nature of his ideal, and the problematic results of his imperfect attempt to integrate this ideal with reality. The structural breaks in Schiller's argument are then related to the social context in which the theory was formulated.
This book is the first in English to provide a detailed philosophical study of Schiller's major work in aesthetics, the Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795). The introduction surveys those books in English with chapters on the treatise and concludes with an outline of Kant's critical system and a summary of this theories of aesthetic judgment, art and beauty. The main body of the work consists of an exegesis of Schiller's text. In part one (Letters 1-9), we follow Schiller as he describes the afflictions of civilization and their cure. In part two (Letters 10-17), we follow Schiller as he considers the essential nature of man and beauty. In part three (Letters 18-27), we follow Schiller as he describes the psychological development of the individual and species from a sensuous to a rational condition, through the mediation of the aesthetic. The exposition is accompanied by assessment and criticism. The conclusion commences with a recapitulation of the main arguments in each Letter. This is followed by an evaluation of the Aesthetic Letters, identifying those specific theories of contemporary relevance, and with the potential for further theoretical development.
Schiller's importance in the intellectual history of Germany is by no means confined to his poetry and dramas. He did notable work in history and philosophy, and in the department of esthetics especially, he made significant contributions, modifying and developing in important respects the doctrines of Kant. In the letters on "Aesthetic Education," he gives the philosophic basis for his doctrine of art, and indicates clearly and persuasively his view of the place of beauty in human life.
