Defining the Aesthetic Life Revisiting Schiller's Concept of the Aesthetic Education
Friedrich Schiller proposed the idea of the"aesthetic life"in his epoch-making essay"On the Aesthetic Education of the Human Being"(1795),arguing that"humanity must be restored to the human being anew through the aesthetic life."Although the idea of the aesthetic life played a decisive role in his theory of the aesthetic education,it has not yet been adequately recognized so far.Schiller's aesthetics has no relationship to modern autonomous art.His main concern is to bring forth the"aesthetic life,"i.e.the"art of living"that is not restricted to any determined purpose.I clarify the meaning of the aesthetic life as follows:First,the aesthetic life makes humanity possible,for the aesthetic life lacks any determination and is thus capable of virtually infinite determinations.Second,the aesthetic life beautifies the surrounding,for it frees surrounding objects from the means-end relationship,transforming even the most limited matter into the infinite.Third,the aesthetic life that is situated between the physical and the moral life witnesses the emergence of autonomy in heteronomous nature.In this regard,the aesthetic life is bilateral.From one perspective,the aesthetic life is a means to realize the moral life as an end.From another perspective,however,the aesthetic life is an end insofar as it evades the exclusive legislation of reason,restoring humanity to the human being.Schiller thus ascribes a unique position in the human being to the aesthetic life.
Tanehisa Otabe
The University of Tokyo
国内会议
北京
英文
67-76
2018-11-09（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）