Frederick Schiller: The essay on Aesthetics

ISBN-13: 9781456455699 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 242 str.

J-Marc Rakotolahy

Opis

Broadly defined, Aesthetics inform us about what is worth our time and interest in Nature and Art, or in life in general. For Schiller, it is the aesthetic condition which everyone should be reaching for, to allow the advent of the true republic where the human being "neither has to offend the freedom of others in order to affirm his, nor has to throw away his dignity in order to show grace." Hence, the following collection of essays is divided into two parts, an individual level aimed at giving supplemental awareness to the human being about what he or she can do with his or her inner drive and actions; and a national level geared at the continuous education of the citizens through the appropriate exhibition of national events. Part One: Aesthetics of the individual "On the moral use of aesthetic behaviors" is an educational text about taste as something that helps people in the practice of virtues. Taste, here, is a component of Freedom in which the person acts and behaves from inner drive. "On the cohesion of the animal and spiritual natures of the human being" attempts to demonstrate the close relationship between our body and soul. A very audacious essay for its time and still for our century, because it asserts the pre-eminence of the mental condition, and therefore, of the aesthetic education in our overall well-being. This is also the writing which owed F. Schiller his first literary censure. "On the necessity to have limits in the use of beautiful forms" is the aesthetic essay par excellence, and exposes the different relationships among our personal skills, of which we should be aware, in order to use discernment. "On the common and minor treatment of artistic subjects" refines our judgmental capacity further by pointing out at these two manners of dealing with an artistic subject (also applicable in literary style); some will notice that this essay is expressed in a rather incisive manner.