Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of Man
by Friedrich Schiller · Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen in einer Reihe von Briefen
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1795
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- German
- Length
- Short · 120 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendOn the Aesthetic Education of Man, translated by Keith TribePenguin Classics, 2016A recent, clear translation with Alexander Schmidt's introduction; the Wilkinson and Willoughby edition is the scholarly standard.
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Twenty-seven letters, first addressed to the Duke of Augustenburg and rewritten for publication in 1795 after the Terror had shaken Schiller's hopes for the French Revolution. He argues that political freedom cannot be achieved by people who are inwardly divided, and that modern specialisation has split the human being into a sense drive and a form drive. Only beauty, through the play drive, can reconcile them. Man is only fully human when he plays, and an aesthetic education is the necessary route to a free state.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of Man are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
