Aesthetic Education Briefs

Author: (German) Schiller
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
Features: This book is a classic masterpiece by the author. Given the state of his time—where the upper class was corrupt and the lower class was—the author believed that people of that era were incomplete and fragmented. This fragmented human being possesses two impulses alongside the rational impulse. The former's object is life, which involves (possession), (enjoyment), and is controlled by the senses, making it passive. The person in this state is a natural man. The latter's object is the image, which seeks order and law and is governed by thought and will, making it active. The person in this state is a rational man. However, both impulses have a certain compulsion and cannot directly combine. Therefore, to unite them, a bridge is necessary—this is aesthetic education. Aesthetic education can restore health to a person, endow them with a beautiful heart, and serve as a teacher of humanity. It particularly awakens the third impulse within a person—the game impulse. This impulse is synonymous with freedom, as it brings together opposites such as sensibility and reason, matter and form, thereby overcoming human fragmentation.