Aesthetic Reason and Imaginative Freedom: Friedrich Schiller and Philosophy

Description

This book seeks to draw attention to Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) as a philosophical thinker in his own right. For too long, his philosophical contribution has been neglected in favor of his much-deserved reputation as a political playwright. The essays in this collection make two arguments. First, Schiller presents a robust philosophical program that can be favorably compared to those of his age, including Rousseau, Kant, Schelling, and Hegel, and he proves to be their equal in his thinking on morality, aesthetics, and politics. Second, Schiller can also guide us in our more contemporary philosophical concerns and approaches, such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, aesthetics, and politics. Here, Schiller instructs us in our engagement with figures such as Walter Benjamin, Michel Foucault, Jacques Rancière, Roberto Esposito, and others. Contents Introduction Notes Part I: Schiller’s Historico-Philosophical Significance 1 Schiller, Rousseau, and the Aesthetic Education of Man Notes 2 Schiller on Emotions Problems of (In)Consistency in His Ethics Introduction The Limitations of Emotions The Usefulness of Emotions A Kantian Excursus Conclusion Notes 3 Schiller’s Aesthetics between Kant and Schelling I. II. III. Notes 4 The Violence of Reason Schiller and Hegel on the French Revolution1 Preliminary Remarks: A Vindication of Modern Reason Notes 5 Schiller and Pessimism Schiller a Pessimist? Schopenhauer’s Theory of Tragedy An Ex-Optimist Freedom and Death Idealism versus Pessimism Notes Part II: Imagining Schiller Today 6 Naïve and Sentimental Character Schiller’s Poetic Phenomenology Nature over Art: The Moral Pleasure of Naïve Poetry Nature Superseding Itself through Art: The Moral Longing of Sentimental Poetry Schiller’s Poetic Phenomenology Notes 7 Schiller and the Aesthetic Promise Notes 8 On the Fate of Aesthetic Education Rancière, Posa, and The Police Notes 9 Kant, Schiller, and Aesthetic Transformation Notes 10 Aesthetic Dispositifs and Sensible Forms of Emancipation I. II. III. IV. Notes Friedrich Schiller’s Works Cited Bibliography Contributors Index