Schiller and His Philosophical Context: Pleasure, Form, and Freedom

Abstract

Schiller’s interests in theology, poetry, and literature influenced the way he responded to the ethics and aesthetics of the British philosopher the Third Earl of Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley-Cooper), and the German philosophers Moses Mendelssohn and Immanuel Kant. Often Schiller’s most significant philosophical contributions are those which represent alternatives to more influential views, such as his rejection of Kant’s understanding of the relation between the sensuous and rationality in the moral person. In what follows, Schiller’s key concepts within their 18th century context are presented and their significance within this context is discussed by showing how he relates the sensuous to the rational through the following: “pleasure and morality” (section 3), “form and beauty” (section 4) and “freedom or nature” (section 5).