The concept of “aesthetic education” of F. Schiller: philosophical system in historical perspective

Abstract

This article analyzes the fundamental principles of the concept of "aesthetic education" of F. Schiller, which remain relevant in solving the crisis challenges of the modern era. The subject of this research is the concept of “aesthetic education” described in Friedrich Schiller's “Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man”. The goal consists on analysis of the concept of “aesthetic education” for more profound understanding of the development paths of German philosophy, as well as in assessment of the philosophical and sociopolitical importance of the philosopher’s ideas in the current context. Detailed analysis is conducted on F. Schiller's “Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man”, highlighting the key features and major contradictions the concept of “aesthetic education”. The novelty of the research lies in the relevant analysis of the concept of “aesthetic education”, and assessment of its value for the development of philosophy and society. The central concept of aesthetic theory becomes the concept of play drive, which balances the sense drive and the form drive, which ensures the ability of perception in all kinds of interaction between a human and the world, and the rational independence from perception. The aesthetic freedom, on the one hand, is determined as state of harmony between the sensual instincts and the laws of reason; while on the other hand, it is the freedom that arises from the sense of exalted belonging to the category of pure spirit and revealing the absolute moral power beyond feelings. According to modern philosophers, the aesthetic way of creating the “composition of the world" lies in the sphere of transcendental. The advantage of Schiller’s concepts is the expansion of its boundaries from the sphere of art to sociopolitical sphere. In addition to intellectual and ethical path of human development, Schiller offers the aesthetic path. The idea of “aesthetic education” implies the communicative and societal power of art, which is capable to comprehend the overall nature of modern politics.